- Massive Aadhaar Data Breach –
- Recently, Resecurity, an American cyber security company, said that Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of 815 million Indian citizens, including Aadhaar numbers and passport details, were being sold on the Dark Web.
- The threat actors selling the data claimed it was sourced from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which has been subjected to numerous Cyber-Attack attempts with 6,000 incidents being reported in 2022.
- The dark web refers to sites that are not indexed and only accessible via specialized web browsers. Significantly smaller than the tiny surface web, the dark web is considered a part of the deep web.
- The dark web is intentionally hidden and can only be accessed with special software, configurations, or authorization, making it a realm of the internet that is not easily accessible to the average user.
- Threat actors selling stolen data on the dark web declined to specify how they obtained the data without which any effort to identify the source of the data leak would be speculative. Lucius, the second threat actor found selling data online claimed to have access to a 8 terabyte data leak impacting an unnamed “India internal law enforcement agency”. However, the claim is yet to be authenticated.
- Data samples observed by researchers contain multiple references to UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) and Aadhaar cards, as well as voter ID cards. It is also possible that threat actors successfully breached a third-party aggregating these details.
- Aadhaar data leaks were also reported in 2018, 2019, and 2022, with three instances of large-scale leaks being reported, including one in which farmer’s data stored on the PM Kisan website was made available on the dark web.
- Status of India’s Smart Cities Mission –
- The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’s latest data, as of 3rd November 2023, provides insights into the status of India’s Smart Cities Mission.With the mission’s deadline approaching in June 2024, the analysis showcases top-performing cities, financial milestones, and regional variations in project completion.
- Leading Cities in Completion of Projects- Surat (Gujarat) emerges as the top-performing city, leading in the completion of projects, fund utilization, and overall criteria.
- Agra (Uttar Pradesh(UP)), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Varanasi (UP), and Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) secure positions in the top five cities, showcasing commendable progress.
- The rest of the top 10 include Tumakuru (Karnataka), Udaipur (Rajasthan), Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Kota (Rajasthan) and Shivamogga (Karnataka).
- Union Territories (UTs) and cities in Northeastern states find themselves in the bottom 10.
- The bottom 10 cities are Kavaratti (Lakshadweep), Puducherry, Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), Imphal (Manipur), Shillong (Meghalaya), Diu, Guwahati (Assam), Aizawl (Mizoram), Gangtok (Sikkim) and Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh).
- About 22% of total projects (1,745 of 7,947) that account for 33% out of Rs 1.70 lakh crore) of the total cost are still ongoing. The majority of projects (6,202) have been completed, emphasizing the scale and financial investment involved.
- India To Become World’s Third-Largest Economy By 2027: FM Nirmala Sitharaman –
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently addressed the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue, highlighting India’s remarkable economic trajectory amidst global challenges. She predicted that by 2027, India would surpass Japan and Germany to become the world’s third-largest economy, underlining the resilience of the Indian economy amid global uncertainties.
- Despite global headwinds, Sitharaman emphasized that India’s economic growth is estimated to be just under 7%, the highest among major economies.
- She pointed out that even conservative estimates from the IMF indicate India’s ascendancy to the position of the world’s third-largest economy by 2027, with a GDP crossing the USD 5 trillion mark.
- Sitharaman acknowledged the Indo-Pacific as the world’s most economically dynamic region, constituting 60% of global GDP and almost 50% of global merchandise trade.
- However, she also highlighted the geopolitical challenges in the region due to great power competition.
- Discussing India’s ‘Blue Economy,’ Sitharaman noted that it contributes approximately 4% to the GDP, representing a sea of opportunities.
- With nine states and four Union Territories along the coast, 12 major and over 200 non-major ports, and an extensive network of navigable waterways, India stands as a key player in ocean-based trade.