New Delhi, Mar 25: In a startling allegation being levelled against the developers of Narendra Modi app, a French ethical hacker said the data of the application users is being transferred to a third-party American company without their consent.
The ethical hacker, who identified himself as Elliot Anderson on Twitter, said personal details of all the Narendra Modi app users is transferred to a website - in.wzrkt.com - which has hidden it's domain details.
The website was later found to be managed by CleverTap, an American app marketing company. To support his claim, Anderson posted the following tweets:
When you create a profile in the official @narendramodi #Android app, all your device info (OS, network type, Carrier …) and personal data (email, photo, gender, name, …) are send without your consent to a third-party domain called https://t.co/N3zA3QeNZO. pic.twitter.com/Vey3OP6hcf
— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) March 23, 2018
This domain is classified as a phishing link by the company G-Data. This website is hosted by @GoDaddy and the whois info are hidden. pic.twitter.com/dRUx0fuZ38
— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) March 23, 2018
After a quick search, this domain belongs to an American company called @CleverTap. According to their description, “#CleverTap is the next generation app engagement platform. It enables marketers to identify, engage and retain users and provides developers" pic.twitter.com/Ikqp9GbCDm
— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) March 23, 2018
The researcher has posed a question to the company, tweeting, "@Clevertap why did you mask the whois info of in.wzrkt.com?"
He further asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to issue a response. "@narendramodi, I know privacy is not your thing but any thoughts about sharing the personal data of your users without their consent to a third-party company? (sic)" he said.
The government is yet to respond.
The Opposition, meanwhile, targeted the Prime Minister over the alleged data theft.
Taking a jibe at the PM, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Twitter, "Hi! My name is Narendra Modi. I am India's Prime Minister. When you sign up for my official App, I give all your data to my friends in American companies (sic)."
The allegations of data breach via the Narendra Modi app comes in the backdrop of similar charges being levelled against UIDAI, the nodal Aadhaar agency.
Anderson, the security researcher who "exposed" the purported data theft via the PM's app, had earlier claimed to have hacked the Aadhaar's official application along with the Telangana government's pension and other benefits disbursement portal.
Following both the purported hacks, the researcher went public, claiming that data of lakhs of Indian citizens are unsafe.
The UIDAI has, however, denied his claims, charging him of misleading the people.
"UIDAI has dismissed the reports as irresponsible which appeared in a section of social and other media on security of Aadhaar system being questioned on account of a few Aadhaar cards reportedly put on the internet by some unscrupulous elements," the agency had said in a statement.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 25, 2018 01:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).