In 2009, I became extremely concerned with the concept of Unique Identity for various reasons. Connected with many like minded highly educated people who were all concerned.
On 18th May 2010, I started this Blog to capture anything and everything I came across on the topic. This blog with its million hits is a testament to my concerns about loss of privacy and fear of the ID being misused and possible Criminal activities it could lead to.
In 2017 the Supreme Court of India gave its verdict after one of the longest hearings on any issue. I did my bit and appealed to the Supreme Court Judges too through an On Line Petition.
In 2019 the Aadhaar Legislation has been revised and passed by the two houses of the Parliament of India making it Legal. I am no Legal Eagle so my Opinion carries no weight except with people opposed to the very concept.
In 2019, this Blog now just captures on a Daily Basis list of Articles Published on anything to do with Aadhaar as obtained from Daily Google Searches and nothing more. Cannot burn the midnight candle any longer.
"In Matters of Conscience, the Law of Majority has no place"- Mahatma Gandhi
Ram Krishnaswamy
Sydney, Australia.

Aadhaar

The UIDAI has taken two successive governments in India and the entire world for a ride. It identifies nothing. It is not unique. The entire UID data has never been verified and audited. The UID cannot be used for governance, financial databases or anything. It’s use is the biggest threat to national security since independence. – Anupam Saraph 2018

When I opposed Aadhaar in 2010 , I was called a BJP stooge. In 2016 I am still opposing Aadhaar for the same reasons and I am told I am a Congress die hard. No one wants to see why I oppose Aadhaar as it is too difficult. Plus Aadhaar is FREE so why not get one ? Ram Krishnaswamy

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.-Mahatma Gandhi

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.Mahatma Gandhi

“The invasion of privacy is of no consequence because privacy is not a fundamental right and has no meaning under Article 21. The right to privacy is not a guaranteed under the constitution, because privacy is not a fundamental right.” Article 21 of the Indian constitution refers to the right to life and liberty -Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi

“There is merit in the complaints. You are unwittingly allowing snooping, harassment and commercial exploitation. The information about an individual obtained by the UIDAI while issuing an Aadhaar card shall not be used for any other purpose, save as above, except as may be directed by a court for the purpose of criminal investigation.”-A three judge bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar said in an interim order.

Legal scholar Usha Ramanathan describes UID as an inverse of sunshine laws like the Right to Information. While the RTI makes the state transparent to the citizen, the UID does the inverse: it makes the citizen transparent to the state, she says.

Good idea gone bad
I have written earlier that UID/Aadhaar was a poorly designed, unreliable and expensive solution to the really good idea of providing national identification for over a billion Indians. My petition contends that UID in its current form violates the right to privacy of a citizen, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. This is because sensitive biometric and demographic information of citizens are with enrolment agencies, registrars and sub-registrars who have no legal liability for any misuse of this data. This petition has opened up the larger discussion on privacy rights for Indians. The current Article 21 interpretation by the Supreme Court was done decades ago, before the advent of internet and today’s technology and all the new privacy challenges that have arisen as a consequence.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP Rajya Sabha

“What is Aadhaar? There is enormous confusion. That Aadhaar will identify people who are entitled for subsidy. No. Aadhaar doesn’t determine who is eligible and who isn’t,” Jairam Ramesh

But Aadhaar has been mythologised during the previous government by its creators into some technology super force that will transform governance in a miraculous manner. I even read an article recently that compared Aadhaar to some revolution and quoted a 1930s historian, Will Durant.Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajya Sabha MP

“I know you will say that it is not mandatory. But, it is compulsorily mandatorily voluntary,” Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Saba April 2017.

August 24, 2017: The nine-judge Constitution Bench rules that right to privacy is “intrinsic to life and liberty”and is inherently protected under the various fundamental freedoms enshrined under Part III of the Indian Constitution

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the World; indeed it's the only thing that ever has"

“Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” -Edward Snowden

In the Supreme Court, Meenakshi Arora, one of the senior counsel in the case, compared it to living under a general, perpetual, nation-wide criminal warrant.

Had never thought of it that way, but living in the Aadhaar universe is like living in a prison. All of us are treated like criminals with barely any rights or recourse and gatekeepers have absolute power on you and your life.

Announcing the launch of the # BreakAadhaarChainscampaign, culminating with events in multiple cities on 12th Jan. This is the last opportunity to make your voice heard before the Supreme Court hearings start on 17th Jan 2018. In collaboration with @no2uidand@rozi_roti.

UIDAI's security seems to be founded on four time tested pillars of security idiocy

1) Denial

2) Issue fiats and point finger

3) Shoot messenger

4) Bury head in sand.

God Save India

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

663 - 's UID Project: Biometrics Vulnerabilities & Exploits - Slide share net


India’s UID Project: Biometrics Vulnerabilities & Exploits - Presentation Transcript
 
1. Biometrics Vulnerabilities & Exploits [email_address]
 
2. INTRODUCTION
    Old World methods of trust and authentication
    Personal introductions, documents
    Key role player is the authenticator
    New World requirements
    Annonymous, large scale, short term relationships
    Key requirement is building up of trust
    No defence mechanisms of older methods present in newer systems
 
3. Authentication by Technology
    Requires the exchange of certain FACTORS
    Requires an authority who can verify these factors
    Requires an authority who can provide permission to build a relationship and transact 

4-Authentication by Technology
    Factors are classified into 3 types
    Ownership factor like cards, badges or keys
    Knowledge factor like user id, password and pins
    Inheritance factor like weight, height, face shape, color of eyes/hair, birth marks etc. all nicely encoded in a photo
 
5-Properties of different Factors
 
6-The Inheritance Factor - Biometrics
    The Subject of discussion for today is the Inheritance Factor – Biometrics
    Implementation difficulties
   Vulnerabilities
    The authentication process and it's vulnerabilities, in brief
    Since the UIDAI has choosen the use of finger prints and iris as a means of authentication, we will be discussing only these factors
 
7-Finger Print Scanners
    Many variations on these basic techniques
    Variations are primarily to reduce cost, size and probably to overcome existing patents
    Some claims exist about the ability to sense below the “dead skin” surface. However for our vulnerability assements, these claims are trivially overcome
   Sensor technologies are not relevant to the scope of vulnerabilites and exploits
   
8-Fingerprint Readers
 
9- Iris Scanners
   Iris scanners use a Near Infra Red light
   Camera coupled with some autofocusing techniques (commonly used in autofocus cameras)
 
10-  Iris scan - Base Technique
 
11-The Process
      All id systems involve an enrollment process and an authentication process, followed by an authorization process, to enter / exit / recieve / depoist etc
 
12-The Enrollement Process
     Capture image
     Process image
     Extract Features
     Create Template
     Save raw data in the case of criminal records
     Encryption
     Transmission
     De duplication and storage
 
13-The Authentication process
    Capture image
    Process image
   Extract Features
   Create Template
   Encryption
   Transmission
   Receive result
   UIDAI has not specified iris for authentication*
 
14- Threats faced by biometric systems
    Threat agents
    Only simple impostor, without much sophistication or resources. We shall leave out  crossborder attack vectors, as pilfering state subsidies may not be their highest priority
    Threat Vectors
    Fake credentials and replay attacks
    System Weaknesses
    Extraction of digital keys, use of internal facilities of sensors
 
15- Desired Characteristics And Limitations
    Easy and accurate Digitization of the presented bio characteristic
    Time Invariant
    Environment Invariant
    Spoof proof
 
16-... Limitations in enrollment / auth
    Easy and accurate Digitization – neither easy nor accurate
    Too many wrong methods, results in unreproduceable template
    Guided enrollment useless for auth
    Very difficult for occasional users
    Manual overides = more holes
 
17-... Limitations in enrollment / auth
    Time invariance – a myth
    Ageing changes fingerprints (1)
    Skin ailments makes auth difficult if not impossible
    No large scale studies on heterogenous populations
    Will require frequent re-enrollment – aka more holes
    No (available?) studies on iris variations due to ageing
    Errors due to unknown causes (2)
 
18-... Limitations in enrollment / auth
    Environment invariance – a myth
    Water logged hands changes fingerprints machine readbility
    Dry skin changes fingerprints machine readbility
    Will require frequent re-enrollment – aka more holes
    No (available?) studies on iris variations due to harsh environments
     Inter device variations
 
19-... Limitations in enrollment / auth
     Non- Spoofability
    Biometrics are the worst
    Fingeprints are spoofed by gummy finger techniqe
    Iris are spoofed by photographs
    Iris are spoofed by patterned contacts
 
20- Spoofing made easy - Fingerprints
     Uses common ingredients
    Fools all systems with greater than 60% repeatability
    Newer mateials and techniques even more effective
 
21-Spoofing made easy - Iris
     Buy from the net to create fake ids for sale
     PCB etching techniues for masqureading
     Older technique using high res photograph with pupil holes
 
22-Attack Vectors requiring skill
     Template reconstruction
     Biometric id systems store data as a templates, usually a few kilobytes in size. It has been shown that a biometric fingerprint system can be compromised by recreating the biometric using the stored template
     Template extraction and storage a feature of systems
 
23-... Attack Vectors requiring skill
      Key duplication
     Trivial to break into the device and extract keys
     Addition deletion of keys a feature
     Even in locked down devices, the key can be recovered by simply copying the onboard  flash to a pc and reusing the backup in a device purchased from the market
 
24-... Attack Vectors requiring skill
      Replay attack at sensor pins
      The sensor interfaces are relatively simple
     Produce raw data (Fig 4). It is possible to record all data, and then replay that data
     This attack requires some technical skill
     However once developed it can be mass produced and will be undetectable
 
25- Biometrics WORST CHARACTERISTIC
      Cannot be withdrawn
      Cannot be changed
       This violates the basic requirement of any id system
 
26- Inherent problems with Biometric Systems
      FAR - False Acceptance Rate indicates the number of wrong matches of a presented biometric – mistakenly identyfying one person as another
      FRR - False Rejection Rate (also called False Non Match Rate) indicates the number of wrong rejects of a presented biometric.
     Best FAR of .00060 for fingerprints
     Best FAR of .000120 for Iris
     Best FRR of .0060 for fingerprints
     Best FRR of .0012 for Iris
.
27-.. Inherent problems with Biometric Systems
        FAR and FRR closely linked to template size
        Reducing FAR increase FRR
        Reducing FRR increases FAR
 
28-     ... Inherent problems with Biometric Systems
        Requires very good power
        Requires very good telecommunications infrastructure
        Both of very poor quality in many areas
        Even in Maharshtra in the Konkan region, such infratructure is poor due to natural causes like  Hilly terrain, RF shadow regions, Heavy rains and lightning
 
29-Summary
     Biometrics as a unique id in an automated system has never been tested on a large scale
     The inherent characteristic of biometrics is it's irrevocability. This is in direct contradiction of any id / security system, where keys must be revocable and reissueable
    Fingerprints are easily spoofable
    Iris patterns are easily spoofable
    Biometrics are very susceptible to the natural biological processes of growth, ageing and environment
    Numerous technical vulnerabilities are availble for exploitation at the sensor-system interface