On February 4, during a discussion on e-passports, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told the parliament that the government is aware of concerns over data theft for existing passports, and the soon-to-be issued e-passports.
- He said that the current Passport Seva Project includes robust safeguards for data privacy, as well as adequate measures for data security. Passport data is used for the specific purpose for which it is obtained.
- To a specific question from Congress member Shashi Tharoor on the dangers of “data-skimming”, Mr. Jaishankar said the government is “very, very cognizant” of the concern.
What is Data-Skimming?
- A skimmer has traditionally referred to any hardware device designed to steal information stored on payment cards when consumers perform transactions at ATMs, gas pumps and other payment terminals.
- More recently, the use of the term has been extended to include malicious software or code that achieves the same goal on e-commerce websites by targeting payment card data inputted during online purchases.
- For example, an ATM skimmer is a device placed over an ATM card reader that’s capable of reading the magnetic card data.
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