NEW DELHI: The semi-government agency behind India’s national identity card project on Saturday denied a report by news website ZDNet that the program has been hit by another security lapse that allows access to private information.
ZDNet reported that a data leak on a system run by a state-owned utility company, which it did not name, could allow access to private information of holders of the biometric “Aadhaar” ID cards, exposing their names, their unique 12-digit identity numbers, and their bank details.
But the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which runs the Aadhaar program, said “there is no truth in this story” and that they were “contemplating legal action against ZDNet.”
ZDNet could not immediately be contacted for comment on the UIDAI’s response.
“There has been absolutely no breach of UIDAI’s Aadhaar database. Aadhaar remains safe and secure,” the agency said in a statement late on Saturday.
“Even if the claim purported in the story were taken as true, it would raise security concerns on database of that utility company and has nothing to do with the security of UIDAI’s Aadhaar database,” it said.
More than a billion users
ZDNet had reported that even though the security lapse had been flagged to some government agencies over a period of time, it has yet to be fixed. It said it was withholding the name of the utility and other details.
Karan Saini, a New Delhi-based security researcher, said that anyone with an Aadhaar number was affected.
“This is a security lapse. You don’t have to be a consumer to access these details. You just need the Uniform Resource Locator where the Application Programming Interface is located. These can be found in less than 20 minutes,” Saini told Reuters.
In recent months researchers and journalists who have identified loopholes in the identity project have said they have been slapped with criminal cases or harassed by government agencies because of their work.
Aadhaar, a biometric identification card with over 1.1 billion users, is the world’s biggest database.
But it has been facing increased scrutiny over privacy concerns following several instances of breaches and misuse.
Last Thursday, the CEO of the UIDAI said the biometric data attached to each Aadhaar was safe from hacking as the storage facility was not connected to the Internet.
“Each Aadhaar biometric is encrypted by a 2048-key combination and to decode it, the best and fastest computer of our era will take the age of the universe just to hack into one card’s biometric details,” Ajay Bhushan Pandey said.
Indian agency denies reported security lapse in ID card project
Indian agency denies reported security lapse in ID card project
Saudi Cabinet rejects displacement of Palestinians, backs Arab summit’s Gaza plan
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet on Tuesday affirmed full support for the decisions of the extraordinary Arab League summit in Cairo that rejected the displacement of Palestinians from their land, and aimed to end the disastrous repercussions resulting from the war.
It reiterated the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to obtain their legitimate rights, including their right to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The final statement adopted by the summit called for the deployment of an international protection and peacekeeping force in the Palestinian territories.
It adopted the plan submitted by Egypt with regard to Gaza, in full coordination with Palestine and Arab countries.
It also emphasized the achievement of a just and comprehensive peace that fulfills the rights of the Palestinian people.
During the weekly Cabinet session chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, ministers condemned Israel’s decision to stop the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, calling on the international community to assume its responsibilities towards these serious violations, activate international accountability mechanisms, and ensure sustainable access to aid.
The Cabinet tackled the joint statement issued after President Joseph Aoun’s visit to Riyadh regarding the importance of fully implementing the Taif Agreement, which ended Lebanon’s civil war and was negotiated in Saudi Arabia in 1989, and relevant international resolutions.
The joint statement also stressed the importance of ensuring Lebanon’s sovereignty over all its territories, restricting weapons to the Lebanese state, supporting the Lebanese army’s national role, and calling for the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from all Lebanese territories.
Aoun was welcomed at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh on Monday, where discussions with the crown prince focused on strengthening bilateral relations.
During their talks, both leaders agreed to study obstacles affecting the resumption of exports from Lebanon to Saudi Arabia and procedures to facilitate Saudi travel to Lebanon. They also reaffirmed their commitment to Lebanon’s economic recovery and the implementation of reforms aligned with international standards.
In a diffident matter, the Cabinet affirmed the state’s continued support for the social services system and national initiatives that aim to provide adequate housing for qualifying families, praising in this regard the cooperation and integration of roles between government, private and non-profit entities, in addition to community members, to achieve the goals of the Jood Regions campaign.
The Jood Regions campaign was first launched during Ramadan 2024 to provide more than 10,000 housing units for the most needy families across the Kingdom’s 13 provinces.
King Salman and the crown prince have donated a total of SR150 million ($40 million) to the second Jood Regions campaign, launched at the start of this year’s Ramadan.
The Cabinet reviewed the progress of major development and service projects that aim to enhance the comprehensive development process in the Kingdom.
The ministers offered congratulation on the opening of the first phase of Sports Boulevard project in Riyadh, which will contribute to consolidating the position of the city among the best global cities.
The project, led by the Sports Boulevard Foundation, is now 40 percent complete, with 83 km of the route being accessible to visitors since Feb. 27.
The initiative, launched by King Salman in March 2019, aligns with the country’s Quality-of-Life Program, outlined in Saudi Vision 2030, by creating greener, more sustainable cities that encourage participation in activities like walking, cycling, and horse riding. It also aims to transform Riyadh into one of the world’s most livable cities by blending sports with cultural, artistic, and environmental opportunities.
Diaz earns Real Madrid lead on Atletico in Champions League derby clash
- Atletico began to create danger of their own and Valverde hacked away Giuliano Simeone’s whipped ball from under his own crossbar under pressure from Samuel Lino
MADRID: Real Madrid claimed a small edge on city rivals Atletico Madrid with a tight 2-1 Champions League last 16 first-leg win on Tuesday.
Julian Alvarez levelled for Atletico after Rodrygo Goes sent the hosts ahead, but Brahim Diaz stroked home the winner for the record 15-time winners to delight the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
Diego Simeone’s Atletico, who lost in the 2014 and 2016 finals against their bitter rivals, kept stars Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe quiet but still came up short.
The Rojiblancos played it safe in the final stages, seeming to accept their one-goal disadvantage for the second leg derby clash at home next week.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti opted for Morocco international Diaz in midfield to replace the suspended Jude Bellingham and selected Fede Valverde at right-back after he was passed fit to play.
The Italian had demanded his side show a better attitude and more commitment than during their La Liga defeat by Real Betis on Saturday and his charges delivered.
Rodrygo pounced after just four minutes, slipping inside Javi Galan to collect Valverde’s teasing pass before firing home with his left foot across Jan Oblak and inside the far post.
It was the Brazilian winger’s fifth strike of the tournament, habitually shining on the European stage for Madrid, where he boasts 25 goals in 61 appearances.
Rodrygo wanted a penalty when Galan appeared to hold him back in the area but his appeals were waved away.
His compatriot Vinicius came close to netting Madrid’s second as he surged into the box but Jose Gimenez blocked his shot well.
Atletico began to create danger of their own and Valverde hacked away Giuliano Simeone’s whipped ball from under his own crossbar under pressure from Samuel Lino.
Alvarez levelled with a brilliant individual goal, dancing away from Eduardo Camavinga on the left of the box and curling his shot past Thibaut Courtois into the top corner.
The former Manchester City striker has been in sublime form in the past few weeks, notching 10 goals in 14 matches and proving why Atletico made him their second most expensive signing of all-time last summer.
Antoine Griezmann and Rodrigo De Paul helped Atletico keep control for long periods, with Madrid finding it hard to take the ball back from their rivals.
That made it all the more surprising when Diaz restored Los Blancos’ lead in the 55th minute.
The midfielder left Gimenez on the floor with some quick footwork and carved out the space for a tidy low finish, before leaping into the crowd to celebrate.
Griezmann fired wide and Gimenez over as Atletico looked for a response and Ancelotti brought on 39-year-old midfielder Luka Modric in search of more control.
The Croatian delivered just that and neither side threatened in the final half hour of the match until stoppage time, when Madrid might have secured a third.
Mbappe’s cut-back from the right was behind Vinicius who was waiting for a tap-in, and Oblak saved from Modric in the aftermath.
Atletico host Real Madrid next week at the Metropolitano stadium, with the winner facing Arsenal or PSV Eindhoven in the quarter-finals.
Scientists genetically engineer mice with thick hair like the extinct woolly mammoth
- Scientists have been genetically engineering mice since the 1970s, but new technologies like CRISPR “make it a lot more efficient and easier,” said Lynch
WASHINGTON: Extinction is still forever, but scientists at the biotech company Colossal Biosciences are trying what they say is the next best thing to restoring ancient beasts — genetically engineering living animals with qualities to resemble extinct species like the woolly mammoth.
Woolly mammoths roamed the frozen tundras of Europe, Asia and North America until they went extinct around 4,000 years ago.
Colossal made a splash in 2021 when it unveiled an ambitious plan to revive the woolly mammoth and later the dodo bird. Since then, the company has focused on identifying key traits of extinct animals by studying ancient DNA, with a goal to genetically “engineer them into living animals,” said CEO Ben Lamm.
Outside scientists have mixed views about whether this strategy will be helpful for conservation.
“You’re not actually resurrecting anything — you’re not bringing back the ancient past,” said Christopher Preston, a wildlife and environment expert at the University of Montana, who was not involved in the research.
On Tuesday, Colossal announced that its scientists have simultaneously edited seven genes in mice embryos to create mice with long, thick, woolly hair. They nicknamed the extra-furry rodents as the “Colossal woolly mouse.”
Results were posted online, but they have not yet been published in a journal or vetted by independent scientists.
The feat “is technologically pretty cool,” said Vincent Lynch, a biologist at the University of Buffalo, who was not involved in the research.
Scientists have been genetically engineering mice since the 1970s, but new technologies like CRISPR “make it a lot more efficient and easier,” said Lynch.
The Colossal scientists reviewed DNA databases of mouse genes to identify genes related to hair texture and fat metabolism. Each of these genetic variations are “present already in some living mice,” said Colossal’s chief scientist Beth Shapiro, but “we put them all together in a single mouse.”
They picked the two traits because these mutations are likely related to cold tolerance — a quality that woolly mammoths must have had to survive on the prehistoric Arctic steppe.
Colossal said it focused on mice first to confirm if the process works before potentially moving on to edit the embryos of Asian elephants, the closest living relatives to woolly mammoths.
However, because Asian elephants are an endangered species, there will be “a lot of processes and red tape” before any plan can move forward, said Colossal’s Lamm, whose company has raised over $400 million in funding.
Independent experts are skeptical about the idea of “de-extinction.”
“You might be able to alter the hair pattern of an Asian elephant or adapt it to the cold, but it’s not bringing back a woolly mammoth. It’s changing an Asian elephant,” said University of Montana’s Preston.
Still, the refinement of precision gene-editing in animals could have other uses for conservation or animal agriculture, said Bhanu Telugu, who studies animal biotechnology at the University of Missouri and was not involved in the new research.
Telugu said he was impressed by Colossal’s technology advances that enabled scientists to pinpoint which genes to target.
The same approach might one day help fight diseases in people, said Lamm. So far, the company has spun off two health care companies.
“It’s part of how we monetize our business,” said Lamm.
Israel security agency acknowledges failure in preventing October 7 attack
- The acknowledgement comes days after an Israeli military investigations noted similar failings to protect Israelis during the attack, which left hundreds dead and sparked a devastating war in the Gaza Strip
JERUSALEM: Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet acknowledged on Tuesday its failure in preventing Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, saying that if it had acted differently the deadliest day in Israel’s history could have been averted.
The Internal Security Agency, as it is formally known, said that an internal probe “reveals that if the Shin Bet had acted differently, both in the years leading up to the attack and on the night of the attack... the massacre could have been prevented.”
The acknowledgement comes days after an Israeli military investigations noted similar failings to protect Israelis during the attack, which left hundreds dead and sparked a devastating war in the Gaza Strip, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed.
In the opening lines of the summary of findings from the Shin Bet investigation, the agency’s chief Ronen Bar takes responsiblity for failures, saying that “as the head of the organization, I will bear this heavy burden on my shoulders for the rest of my life.”
However, he added that in order to truly understand how the unprecedented attack was not stopped, there needed to be a broader probe into the role of Israel’s security and political elements and the cooperation between them.
According to the summary, the investigation focused on two key areas — the direct reasons that led to the Shin Bet failing to recognize the immediate threat from Hamas, and the developments preceding the attack.
It noted that “the investigation found no indication that the Shin Bet underestimated the enemy,” Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“On the contrary, there was a deep understanding of the threat, initiatives, and a desire to neutralize the threat, particularly targeting Hamas leadership,” the summary said.
The investigation found that prior knowledge of a Hamas attack plan was not treated as an “actionable threat” and there was an overarching assessment that Hamas was more focused on “inciting violence” in the occupied West Bank.
Additionally, the investigation found that “a policy of quiet had enabled Hamas to undergo massive military buildup,” with financial aid from Qatar going directly to Hamas’s military wing.
In conclusion, the agency said in its summary, “the Shin Bet failed to provide a warning regarding the scope of the attack and the large-scale raid by Hamas” that sparked months of war in Gaza.
“The warning issued on the night of October 7 was not translated into operational directives, and the response given by the Shin Bet... was insufficient to prevent or thwart the large scale attack.”
In the military inquiry, which includes 77 separate investigations into what transpired in communities, army bases and multiple confrontation points around the Gaza periphery, the army noted flaws in its intelligence assessments of Hamas, including the group’s military capabilities and overall intentions.
“We did not even imagine such a scenario,” said an army official who had briefed the media ahead of the probe’s release on Thursday.
The official said the army had not maintained “a comprehensive understanding of the enemy’s military capabilities” and that it was “overconfident in its knowledge.”
“We were addicted to precise intel,” a second senior military official said at the same briefing, explaining that despite signs Hamas was preparing to attack, the army was too focused on what it believed was accurate information.
Also following the publication of the findings of the army’s investigation, the outgoing chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said that he took full responsibility for failing to predict or stop the attack.
In addition to Halevi, the head of the military’s southern command, Major General Yaron Finkelman, and military intelligence chief Major General Aharon Haliva have both stepped down.
Lebanon, Syria leaders commit to managing border incidents
- Hezbollah lost its key supply route from backer Iran through Syria after Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) rebels ousted Assad
CAIRO: Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun held talks Tuesday with his Syrian counterpart Ahmed Al-Sharaa on the sidelines of an Arab summit in Cairo, during which the pair agreed on containing incidents along their shared border.
Syria shares a 330-kilometer (205-mile) border with Lebanon, with no official demarcation at various points, rendering it porous and prone to smuggling.
Syria and Lebanon have a fraught history of conflict and violence, with the ouster in December of Assad after five decades of rule by his clan, offering an opening for a new start.
Aoun’s January 9 election ended a two-year-long presidential vacuum in Lebanon, after Hezbollah, long the country’s dominant force, suffered staggering losses in a war with Israel.
Hezbollah also lost its key supply route from backer Iran through Syria after Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) rebels ousted Assad.
Sharaa then became Syria’s interim president.
“President Aoun and Syria’s President Sharaa tackled several issues,” the Lebanese presidency said on X Tuesday, adding that they agreed on “the need to control the border between the two countries.”
While Aoun and Sharaa had spoken by phone in February, Tuesday marked their first in-person meeting.
Syria’s new authorities announced last month the launch of a security campaign in the border province of Homs, aimed at shutting down arms and goods smuggling routes.
They accused Hezbollah of launching attacks, saying it was sponsoring cross-border smuggling gangs.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, the security campaign targeted drug smugglers and operators from the area with links to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah fought side by side with Assad’s troops after intervening in the Syrian civil war, which the ousted leader sparked by cracking down on democracy protests in 2011.
