India’s Aadhaar Software Hacked, ID Database Compromised, Experts Confirm • Hacker News Board

Re: India’s Aadhaar Software Hacked, ID Database Compromised, Experts Confirm

#161

Post by A2017U1 » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 7:23 AM UTC

ajdlinux wrote: post #72

A2017U1 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any Australian with a driver's license or passport most definitely has their facial biometrics stored. Any visitor to the country also is subject to it. This has been in existence for over a decade and I'm astonished people aren't aware of that.

Right, I do know that (The Capability(tm)!) and for some reason I just mentally exclude facial recognition from the term "biometrics". OP specifically said "at least fingerprints" - it's good to have a reminder that facial biometrics still count as biometrics too, and they're lower on the hierarchy than fingerprints.

From my experience going from clean shaven to a small beard can throw the whole system off and requires manual intervention rather than going through the automatic gates. Fingerprints surely would be more accurate.

Have no idea whether foreigners have to give fingerprint scans at Australian customs, it's common practice throughout Asia.

Re: India’s Aadhaar Software Hacked, ID Database Compromised, Experts Confirm

#162

Post by thisisit » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 8:40 AM UTC

I like how tough topics in India are discussed - everything is tied back to the central government. Either you a nationalist supporting the central government or you are a self proclaimed anti-nationalist who dislikes the current government and their agenda.

One of the things people need to realize is this is a bigger bureaucratic problem. It has nothing to do with current or previous government. Previous government pushed this through because it was in their agenda and the current government cried foul. Now the tables have turned.

What this tells me is that there are lot of private interests which are playing a huge role in Indian governance, irrespective of the government. And we as a people getting into petty fights about the nationalist/anti-nationalist debate are losing sight of the target.

Re: India’s Aadhaar Software Hacked, ID Database Compromised, Experts Confirm

#163

Post by regunath_b » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 8:36 AM UTC

I am the guy (Regunath) quoted in this article. I had already vented out at how one of the journalists approached me with an intent to get a "balanced" view of the system and ended up writing what he wanted from a pre-determined agenda. See this : https://twitter.com/RegunathB/status/1039411036497956864

What is not covered in this article is that all data from client (even if compromised) is validated by a completely different system on the server-side (any decent system does this and so does Aadhaar) and the client too has undergone maybe 20 revisions to add features/fix issues - again typical of any software. The latest version of the client software, I am told, entirely boots off a secure external storage. Now, older versions might still be i use on the field. The Enrolment client software has provision to force upgrade the software and go to the extent of locking up and not allow any new enrolments. The server counterpart can also check and reject enrolments from previous versions of client software. All of this was shared to the same reporter and you can see how much (or how less) of it was actually covered in this fact finding exercise. Press has the ability to tell the truth or sensationalize, these guys chose the latter.