Some reports on Thursday claimed that CoWIN portal, which is used to book vaccine slots in India, has been hacked. These reports further claimed that in this hacking, personal data of 150 million Indians have been leaked and up for sale. Soon after these reports started going viral and panicked citizens, the government of India rubbished the claim and called it fake.
Denying reports of CoWIN portal being hacked, the Health Ministry and the chairman of the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration (EGVAC) said CoWIN “stores all vaccination data in a safe and secure digital environment.”
Centre denies claims of CoWIN hack
Commenting on the matter the Indian government said, “there have been some unfounded media reports of the CoWIN platform being hacked. Prima facie, these reports appear to be fake.”
EGVAC Chairman RS Sharma informed citizens that CoWIN data is not shared with any entity outside of the system. “Our attention has been drawn towards the news circulating on social media about the alleged hacking of CoWIN system. In this connection we wish to state that CoWIN stores all the vaccination data in a safe and secure digital environment,” Sharma said.
Sharma further added, “no CoWIN data is shared with any entity outside the CoWIN environment. The data being claimed as having been leaked such as geo-location of beneficiaries is not even collected by CoWIN.”
CoWIN portal helps Indians to check and book COVID-19 slots across the country. Unlike what is rumoured, there is no CoWIN app available for users, there’s just the portal. Booking a slot on CoWIN first is mandatory for everyone and only then they must head to respective COVID vaccine center.
Currently, the Health Ministry and the EGVAC are getting the matter investigated by the Computer Emergency Response Team of MietY.
