HYDERABAD: A report by Avast Antivirus, an internet security software, has claimed Aadhaar data leak was the world’s biggest information breach in 2018 in terms of number of people affected.

The report refers to the incident in which anonymous sellers on WhatsApp charged Rs 500 or less for access to Aadhaar numbers of more than 100 crore people in the country. When Aadhaar numbers were put in a specially-created gateway, particulars of individuals, including name, address, postal code (PIN), photo, phone number and email were displayed.

It is important to note that on Tuesday, Robert Baptiste, who goes by the name Elliot Alderson, on Tuesday claimed he found a major security lapse that allegedly exposed millions of Aadhaar numbers of dealers and distributors associated with Indane.

Meanwhile, Avast ranked the Starwood data leak in which “names, email ids and physical addresses, phone numbers, passport numbers, account info, birth dates, gender, travel info, and accommodation information” second worst, estimating that at least 500 million people were affected.

“Like many of the other official breach statements, the Marriott-owned hotel chain issued a statement that its servers had suffered “unauthorized access,” but recent discoveries from the investigation indicate the breach may have been caused by the Chinese government for political purposes,” the report said.

Cambridge Analytica

Cambridge Analytica scandal involving Facebook also figured on the list, at the seventh rank. The data-collecting firm illegally harvested users’ info without their permission to influence the 2016 US elections.