Reports of the Cowin system used to register people for the Covid vaccination being hacked have been going around for a while. On Thursday, the government denied all such rumors stating that the reports of the system being hacked “appear to be fake.” However, the Computer Response Team, known to be the government’s best counter-hacking group under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), will look into the matter.
When questioned about the hacking reports, the Health Ministry and the chairman of the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration (EGVAC) said Cowin “stores all vaccination data in a safe and secure digital environment.”
“There have been some unfounded media reports of the Cowin platform being hacked. Prima facie, these reports appear to be fake. However, the Health Ministry and the EGVAC are getting the matter investigated by the Computer Emergency Response Team of MietY,” the government said in the statement.
Furthermore, the government’s public application programming interface (API) Setu website states. “The extent of access will be limited and in case of any misuse impacting the performance of Cowin solution will result in blocking any such application and entities as per the policies of MoHFW (Health Ministry) and taking any other appropriate action in accordance with law.”
