The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary, Alkesh Kumar Sharma, highlighted the government’s focus on data privacy and security amidst increasing incidents of data breaches. Speaking at the 20th Foundation Day of the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), Sharma emphasized the need to address cybersecurity and data privacy issues to protect citizens from becoming victims of cybercrime.
Sharma’s comments gain significance in light of the recent alleged data breach related to CoWIN, the government’s vaccination platform. The investigation into the CoWIN breach is still ongoing. Reports indicated that a telegram bot had allegedly exposed citizens’ data, including names, vaccination details, and identification, but the government stated that it was a mimic data breach rather than a breach of CoWIN itself. The government is conducting investigations and aims to make the findings public.
Furthermore, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has been in discussions with 11 state governments to probe possible data leaks from their respective databases developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding gaming self-regulatory organizations (SROs), MeitY Secretary mentioned that the government will soon notify SROs based on applications received, but no timeline or concrete applications were mentioned. If the industry fails to propose SROs, the government will take action. Sharma also mentioned that four countries have signed a memorandum of understanding to adopt India’s Digital Public Infrastructure, including technologies like UPI, Digilocker, and Aadhaar.
