Union Minister Denies CoWIN Data Breach Allegations; Probe Initiated

New Delhi: In response to the Opposition’s claims of a potential data breach on the CoWIN portal, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister of State for Information Technology, swiftly addressed the issue. He stated that upon reviewing the claims, the ministry found no direct breach of the CoWIN app or its data.

Various opposition leaders alleged a significant data breach on the CoWIN portal, asserting that personal information such as mobile numbers, Aadhaar numbers, passport numbers, voter IDs, and family details of vaccinated individuals were leaked and readily available on the internet.

Chandrasekhar took to Twitter to clarify the situation, explaining that a Telegram bot was accessing CoWIN app details by inputting phone numbers.

With ref to some Alleged Cowin data breaches reported on social media, @IndianCERT has immdtly responded n reviewed this

✅A Telegram Bot was throwing up Cowin app details upon entry of phone numbers

✅The data being accessed by bot from a threat actor database, which seems to…

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) June 12, 2023

He further stated that the accessed data appeared to be from a threat actor database, which seemed to be populated with previously breached or stolen information from the past. In light of these developments, he highlighted the finalization of a National Data Governance policy, which aims to establish a unified framework for data storage, access, and security standards across all government platforms.

In the midst of the media coverage surrounding the alleged data breach, government sources clarified that the CoWIN portal, responsible for Covid-19 vaccination registration, does not collect any personal details of individuals. According to these sources, the portal solely records the date on which an individual received one dose, two doses, or an additional precautionary dose.

The Health Ministry is currently conducting an investigation to determine whether the leaked data originated from CoWIN or another application.