Google takes the blame for India UIDAI Aadhaar data controversy

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Google has taken the blame for the Indian UIDAI Aadhaar Data goof up and admitted that it pushed the Aadhaar helpline number into the contact lists of the phones to help the Indian Populace.

At the same time, the internet juggernaut clarified that the coding of the helpline number into the mobile phones was not an unauthorized breach of its Android Operating system run devices- as reported on some social media platforms.

As the update was not taken in a positive way by the Indian populace, the web search giant has decided to fix the issue in the next few weeks. That means the task of pushing the helpline number to Android phones will be rolled back.

Sources reporting to Cybersecurity Insiders report that Google has issued permission in 2014 to OEMs to code the helpline numbers or distress numbers into the new Android phones by default. As the number (in this case-1800-300-1947) gets transferred accordingly to the contacts on any new device, it led to the eruption of the present Aadhaar data controversy.

However, the American online technology services provider did not issue a clarification on how the old phones received an Aadhaar helpline update without the consent of the phone users.

A source from Times of India said that it could probably be the mischief of the French hacker named Elliot Anderson who last week challenged Indian PM Narender Modi for revealing his Aadhaar number if in case he had one.

Elliot did not react to the latest news on UIDAI data. But in one of his last week tweets, the said hacker said that he will be playing with the Aadhaar numbers of the Indian populace by revealing their private details like bank account details, Insurance policy details, car/bike ownership details, Gas subsidy details, and even some data from their online profiles like photos and videos.

Note- The ethical hacker responded with such tweets after Indian Telecom Chief RS Sharma challenged the hacking community of the world to dare reveal his personal info based on his Aadhaar number which was made public by him on his twitter handle.

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Naveen Goud is a writer at Cybersecurity Insiders covering topics such as Mergers & Acquisitions, Startups, Cyber Attacks, Cloud Security and Mobile Security

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