Aadhaar ID, other personal info of IIFI event applicants get exposed online: Report

A report said sensitive details of more than 100 applicants were exposed.

In a recent case of security breach, the personal information of applicants for the 'Creative Minds of Tomorrow' segment of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was exposed on the government's official website for the event.

The Times of India, in a report, said they were able to access the portal's parent directory, unveiling personal details, including Aadhaar IDs, PAN cards, etc. of more than 100 applicants.

This segment was introduced by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to encourage emerging young talent in filmmaking. But the participants' sensitive data was left vulnerable when they submitted their information to the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).

An unnamed source clarified to TOI, "The creative minds portal has been outsourced by NFDC to a separate web development agency and the breach is from their side." They added, "There is no data breach of the IFFI delegates and people can be rest assured that the data of those who registered for Iffi is safe."

IFFI, organised by NFDC under the aegis of the I&B ministry, has been held in Goa since 2004 in collaboration with the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG). The 54th edition is slated from November 20 to 28.

Earlier, there had been claims about a breach of data of citizens registered on the CoWIN platform, with the government terming the reports "mischievous" and "without any basis" while asserting that the CoWIN portal was completely safe with adequate safeguards for data privacy.

Meanwhile, as per an IBM Security report, the average cost of a data breach in India reached Rs 17.9 crore in 2023 - at an "all-time high" and almost a 28 per cent increase since 2020.

The most common type of cybercrime in India was phishing (almost 22 per cent), followed by stolen or compromised credentials (16 per cent). Social engineering was the costliest root cause of breaches at Rs 19.1 crore, followed by malicious insider threats, which amounted to nearly 18.8 crore, according to the report.