Disclosing Aadhaar doesn't increase vulnerability: Trai

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Chairman R S Sharma on Tuesday said mere knowledge of Aadhaar number cannot increase one's "digital vulnerabilities".

Sharma, who created a flutter in social media by disclosing his Aadhaar number on Twitter and threw a challenge to hackers to cause him harm by misusing the unique number, said: “I have always maintained that disclosure, knowledge or sharing of the biometric ID number does not increase 'digital vulnerabilities'.”

However, Sharma also said that the intention behind the disclosure of his 12-digit number was never to abet others to publish or disclose their Aadhaar numbers.

"I have made it very clear that the intention was not really to abet other people to publish their Aadhaar number," Sharma told reporters. Sharma, who earlier served as UIDAI's first CEO, will retire as Trai chairman on August 9.

Following the Trai chief's Aadhaar challenge last month, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had asked people not to share publicly their 12-digit identifier on the internet and social media, or pose such challenges to others.

An all-out war had raged on Twitter after the Trai chief shared his Aadhaar number publicly, challenging anyone to show how mere knowledge of the number can be misused to harm him.