#InLokSabha on July, 21, 2021
Hema Malini, MP inquired Ministry of Health and Family Welfare about cases of violation of data privacy of citizens on the CoWIN portal and safety measures adopted.
SP Singh Baghel, MOS Health & Family Welfare stated that the CoWIN portal has adequate safety measures including Web Application Firewall (WAF), Anti-DDoS, SSL/TLS (regular vulnerability assessment) Identity & Access Management.
Although he dubbed the #CoWinDataBreach as ‘apparent’, he listed a number of actions immediately taken by the government following the ‘apparent’ breach, including restricting access to CoWIN APIs and a complaint to the National Cyber Crime Cell.
The reported breach clearly showcases the dangers of excessive personal data collection in the face of poor data security standards and principles.
Even the proposed data protection law provides wide exemptions to government entities, thus reducing their accountability. Public data held by the government must be set to higher and stricter standards by our laws.