Operation Aadhaar leaks: How safe is your Aadhaar card?

India Today investigation reveals how Aadhaar agents are selling your personal data to businessmen for petty cash.

Nandan Nilekani's trailblazing biometric ID system, apparently modelled on first FBI director J Edgar Hoover's massive central database of fingerprints, is in spotlight after reports of a cyber attack which leaked Aadhaar data.

A report by The Tribune had claimed that one of its reporters paid just Rs 500 to an 'online agent' to access names, addresses, PINs, photos, phone numbers and emails of more than 1 million numbers.

However, an India Today investigation has revealed that the Aadhaar data breach racket is not merely online, but could be widespread with agents at several enrolment agencies willing to part with demographic records collected from Aadhaar applicants for Rs 2-5.

"I can give you data of 15,000 applicants for Rs 30,000," Alankit's branch head Ishpal Singh told India Today reporters, who posed as businessmen seeking to expand their database of potential customers. He was ready to provide an applicant's name, address, birth date, mobile numbers and email for merely Rs 2.