FSS Aadhaar Token Vault Can Boost Digital Transaction Adoption

The digital India campaign launched by the Government of India, ensures Government services are made available to citizens electronically by improving online infrastructure and by increasing Internet connectivity or by making the country digitally empowered in the field of technology. As part of this campaign, the personal identifiable information of the citizen of India is acquired in various systems such as banking systems, public distribution systems, income tax, financial data processors, loan applications, medical records, school records, utility vendors, travel information, real estate agents etc. for profiling and to make sure that the citizens of India reap the benefits as residents of this country.

Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identification number issued by the Indian government to every individual resident of India. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UDAI), which functions under the Planning Commission of India, is responsible for managing Aadhaar numbers and Aadhaar identification cards. The objective of inking the Aadhaar data of a resident Indian to bank accounts or other business dealings is to assess the usage of the services by these individuals and provide appropriate subsidies from Government, pensions, direct benefit transfer, scholarships etc for the deserving recipients.

Aadhaar also makes it easier to compare and collate data from diverse databases. Use of Aadhaar data in digital payments can be a game changer in improving digital payments adoption. However, malicious use of the data combined with all other financial transactions of an individual, can provide a very comprehensive detailed profile of the person, compromising security and privacy

The sensitive personal information when used in an unauthorized manner can result in adverse consequences.  For example, biometric payment using Aadhaar allows for identification of citizens even when they don’t want to carry out the transaction (without their knowledge). It becomes exceedingly critical this personal data is stored in systems in a secure manner and is not susceptible to interception.

The active digital transformation measures by the Government of India, ensures Aadhaar enrolment in these entities reached an approximate 101.11 crore in May 2016. This score is inclusive of private companies that do not have a stringent measure on security.

With growing demand for Aadhaar enforcement the risk of data privacy and potential abuse evolves. It is imperative the security control of the personal data that gets collected and stored in the various entities should be validated and tested by good security governance policies and standards. The cost of a data breach can be catastrophic for an individual as well as an organization. It comes with a very heavy penalty of reputation damage, heavy fines, losing credibility and ultimate doom of business.

FSS Aadhaar TokenVault ensures Aadhaar information is stored in a secure vault and other entities will have only referential key access to this data for varied business use cases. Aadhaar data in the vault will be encrypted using HSM keys and access to those keys will be restricted to only authenticated internal systems.

The Aadhaar Data Vault containing Aadhaar data and the referencing system will be kept in a highly restricted network zone. Strong access controls are imposed, and unauthorized usage is curtailed using proper measures by logging and monitoring the access and raising necessary alerts for unusual and unauthorized attempts of data use.

In order to increase the usage and acceptance of Aadhaar, it is essential privacy concerns related to the applicability and storage of Aadhaar data is safeguarded and securitized. The right to privacy to protect an individual’s identity from abusing his/her personal identifiable information is foremost to arresting identity theft. Aadhaar TokenVault ensures this measure to avert fraud and enforce security. The HP environment for this product will give the necessary scaling flexibility and highest level of availability in an integrated and secured manner.

For more information on card control capabilities, please write to FSS Marketing team: products@fss.co.in