No data breach, says Election Commission after hacker's arrest [Times Nation]

A day after a man from Saharanpur in UP was arrested for allegedly hacking into the website of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and making thousands of voter ID cards, a statement by the election body on Friday said that no data breach had taken place and that its database was "absolutely safe and secure."

The statement said: "A data entry operator in one of the AERO (assistant electoral roll officer) offices had illegally shared his password details with a private unauthorized service provider in Saharanpur to print some voter ID cards. Both these persons have been arrested." AEROs are mandated to provide citizencentric services including printing of voter ID cards and their timely distribution.

UP Police has, meanwhile, formed several teams to nab the man's accomplices -- one from Delhi and another from Madhya Pradesh. Vipul Saini, who is in his early 20s, was picked up from Saharanpur's Nakud town where he runs a computer shop on Thursday. Hard drives and computers from his shop were also seized. Saini is estimated to have made as many as 10,000 voter ID cards in the past three months.

SP city (Saharanpur) Rajesh Kumar said, "During probe, we found that Saini had an authorised franchisee to make PAN cards and he used to get a lot of requests to make voter ID cards. Saini secured the ECI password through illegal means and with the help of his friends started to make voter ID cards as well. He sent them to MP and Delhi and would charge Rs 100 to Rs 200 for each card."