Leaky pipes: Aadhaar, India's national ID database, hit with another leak

[Vaught]

http://www.zdnet.com/article/another-data-leak-hits-india-aadhaar-biometric-database/

India's national ID database has been hit by yet another major security lapse.

Known as Aadhaar, the government ID database is packed with identity
and biometric information -- like fingerprints and iris scans -- on more
than 1.1 billion registered Indian citizens, official figures show.
Anyone in the database can use their data -- or their thumbprint -- to
open a bank account, buy a cellular SIM card, enroll in utilities, and
even receive state aid or financial assistance. Even companies, like Amazon and Uber, can tap into the Aadhaar database to identify their customers.

The utility provider, which we are not naming, has access to the
Aadhaar database through an API, which the company relies on to check a
customer's status and verify their identity.
But because the
company hasn't secured the API, it's possible to retrieve private data
on each Aadhaar holder, regardless of whether they're a customer of the
utility provider or not.

So yeah. Aadhaar has been hit with data leaks in the past and has been brought to attention before, but the Indian officials have been...less than helpful in regard to fixing or assessing the problem. At least publicly. This comes only days after the most recent leak episode.