Cowin data leak: Bihar man arrested for uploading confidential information on Telegram

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has arrested a Bihar man for leaking crucial information from the COWIN portal through Telegram app.

According to reports. he uploaded the information on the Telegram bot. His mother is a health worker in Bihar. The police have also arrested a minor in the case.

Aadhaar card, identity card, passport and mobile numbers are among the details provided by individuals on the COWIN portal for receiving Covid-19 vaccine.

South Asia Index had recently discovered that the personal information of politicians and officials provided on COWIN portal were leaked through Telegram. South Asia Index also reported that the concerned accounts are currently inactive.

The Union government had recently dismissed as "mischievous" the claims of a data breach on the platform and said the matter has been reviewed by the country's nodal cyber security agency CERT-In.

In a statement, the Union Health Ministry also said that an internal exercise has been initiated to review the existing security measures.

Refuting the reports, Chandrasekhar said a Telegram Bot was throwing up CoWin app details upon entry of phone numbers.

"The data being accessed by the bot from a threat actor database, which seems to have been populated with previously breached/stolen data stolen from the past. It does not appear that the Cowin app or database has been directly breached," the minister said.

In its statement, the health ministry said there was no basis for the reports alleging the breach of data from the CoWIN portal, which is the repository of all data of beneficiaries who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.