‘165 data breaches since 2018’

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale on Tuesday exposed the Narendra Modi government’s false claims on data security issues.

The matter was raised earlier this year when news reports documented the CoWin website data breach affecting senior political leaders, whose personal details were divulged on social media platforms.

Gokhale also pointed out that after initial denial, the Centre has confirmed that 165 data breaches have taken place since 2018.

Taking to X, Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Gokhale wrote: “All this while, the Modi Govt has been vehemently denying that data of Indians has been breached even after numerous verified reports that Cowin & other data has been leaked on the Dark Web.

Minister @Rajeev_GoI had even gone to the extent of terming these reports of data breaches as ‘mischievous.”

He further added: “..Now, in response to my question in Parliament, Modi Govt admits that there have been a shocking 165 data breach incidents since 2018.

And when I asked whether these were probed & what was the result of the investigation, the Modi Govt chose to remain silent.”

“Gokhale was referring to the response to his question tabled in the Parliament during the ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament. In a written response, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, stated that as per information tracked by CERT-In, “a total number of 165 data breach incidents involving citizen data are observed from January 2018 till October 2023,” reads a press statement issued.