Did You Protect Your AADHAAR Biometric Data by Locking it?

With about 1.24 billion AADHAAR cards issued to Indians and with about 30 billion authentications done through this document, AADHAAR has become one of the most significant document with everything connected to the Government, utilities and fintech companies.

By making KYC process paperless, AADHAAR verification was successful in reducing the new customer onbaording cost by upto 85% by various mobile wallets, cellphone operators, insurance cos. and mutual funds. But with this came the controversy of safeguarding your personal information. Linking AADHAAR number with everything, everyone's personal information was going in public domain.

So UIDAI introduced the option of locking and unlocking of your personal information as per your preference.

You can lock and unlock your AADHAAR biometrics by visiting the UADAI website here. It can also be done through mAadhaar mobile app or by sending a SMS to 1947 from your AADHAAR registered mobile number. You will need to generate a virual PIN to enable or disable the data authentication feature. The process is fairly easy and you can check details by visiting the above links.

Once biometric lock is implemented, your AADHAAR number and the data associated with it will not be possible to use for any authentication purpose.

• Are you really concerned about your personal data associated with your AADHAAR number?
• Have you implemented your biometric lock or plan to do so?

Do you think it is of any advantage as far as personal data security is concerned? Do share your viewpoints on it with me.