New Delhi, July 30: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chief RS Sharma’s Aadhaar Challenge has gone murkier. Two days after Sharma posted a challenge on Twitter, daring anyone ‘to harm him’, his daughter Kavita Sharma has received an email, threatening her of ‘unregretful consequences if she did not reply. The email was also marked to two journalists from the news organisation, The Wire.
In the email, the sender warned her that the bank details of TRAI chief’s account had been allegedly hacked and if a ransom were not paid, then all the personal information of Sharma would be made public. The email states, “By posting a challenge on social media, RS Sharma has turned out to be an embarrassment to the nation and put a bounty on his accounts for hackers.” The sender also threatened Kavita of hacking Sharma’s mobile and making all the sensitive information public.
My Aadhaar number is 7621 7768 2740
Now I give this challenge to you: Show me one concrete example where you can do any harm to me!
— RS Sharma (@rssharma3) July 28, 2018
On July 28, the TRAI chief had posted a challenge on Twitter to prove his point that getting hold anybody's Aadhar number would cause harm to that person. However, French security researcher Elliot Alderson responding to Sharma’s tweet revealed some of his information through his tweets including personal address, birth date, email, alternate phone number and PAN. In the past also Alderson had exposed vulnerabilities in the Aadhaar system. The French security researcher has also received the mail. He confirmed it through his tweet.
I also received this email yesterday night. This is stupid. Even if @rssharma3 asked "real harm", the goal is to educate people about #privacy not to harm people. I am and I will never be in favor of this kind of threat. https://t.co/v6NfVNgpfc
— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) July 30, 2018
Just a day after Sharma posted a challenge, some hackers even deposited Re 1 in his Bank of India account, via BHIM app. TRAI chief is a strong supporter of Aadhar system. Sharma is also a former director general of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 30, 2018 09:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).