Beware, your Aadhar can be misused, here’s how to protect

The idea of Aadhar is inspired by the United States Social Security number. It’s a Unique identity number for every citizen to keep track of.

However, there are possibilities of misusing of information linked and stored in connection with Aadhaar. Recently, there have been reports that Aadhaar numbers and personal information of several million Indians may have been leaked from government portals.

There is a public service voice message doing the rounds on messaging platform WhatsApp and other social media platforms warning citizens about calls they may receive from people who would claim to be calling from telecommunications service providers and the like, asking for your Aadhaar details. The another WhatsApp message is a website link where your Aadhar details are asked, do not reveal your credentials.

When taking a photocopy of your Aadhar Card, make sure that extra copies are not taken by the person standing before the machine, there is a possibility of making extra copies without your knowledge which can later be misused.

The other way to avoid this is to lock your biometric information stored on UIDAI’s servers when you are not using them and add an extra layer of protection to your sensitive data.

To lock or unlock your biometric follow these steps,

Go to UIDAI – Official Website

  • In the Aadhar Service section click on Lock/Unlock biometrics.
  • Enter your Aadhar Number and the Captcha code and click on Send OTP.
  • Submit the OTP and click on Login.
  • To lock biometric, enter the Captcha and click on Lock.
  • It will be locked until you unlock by the same process.

[source_without_link]SIASAT NEWS[/source_without_link]