Day 72 - BHIM Aadhaar pay lacks a second factor; Elliot's paranoid nature

30 Apr 2017 100daysofwriting · aadhaar · biometric · fingerprints · privacy · security

Churning out two in a row, today. I am 3 books behind schedule, as of this writing. Today was perhaps the cut-off day for the third day!

Recently, I read this article about Aadhaar and how the core biometric database of a lot of Indians that is now held by UIDAI is secured, and will be handled in the future.

I have been reading a lot of material about Aadhaar, UID, UIDAI lately, and all of it has been pretty grim. With the introduction of things like BHIM Aadhaar Pay which requires the merchant to enter the Aadhaar number, and the customer to use their fingerprint for making a payment, it seems like Aadhaar will be a part of all of our lives, whether we like it or want it or not.

BHIM Aadhaar Pay is especially insecure because of the absence of a second factor. The only thing that is required is a fingerprint, and even The Verge wrote an article about this. It was pretty eye opening. Play Doh is a toy for kids, they make stuff with it, and now it’s being used once the fingerprint has been created as a fake finger? DERP.

This Guardian article has more information about the guy who got the German minister’s fingerprint using just her high-res photos.

Well, Elliot converted E-Corp to Evil Corp in his mind. Elliot was paranoid as hell and destroyed his whole setup even at the slight doubt of someone having figured him out. Elliot also mis-labelled his CDs as old rock albums to create an efficient smoke screen that worked rather well (because the people he hung out with weren’t into that kind of music). It pays to be paranoid, apparently.

POST #72 is OVER