Data Leak of Pension Portal Puts Indian Defense Personnel at Risk

The SPARSH (System for Pension Administration (RAKSHA)) portal is indeed a major contribution by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for Indian defense personnel. TCS developed the portal in collaboration with the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) and Ministry of Defence (MoD).

SPARSH has brought about a significant transformation in the way pension-related procedures are handled for the armed forces. It offers a secure and reliable digital platform for pensioners to manage their pension details, submit claims, track progress, and access important documents.

Key functions undertaken by SPARSH:

● Pensioners complete most tasks online, eliminating the need for multiple visits to pension offices.

● The system ensures accurate and timely pension payments with enhanced data security.

● Pensioners can easily raise queries and access grievance redressal mechanisms through the portal.

● The portal facilitates easy reporting of life events like address changes, marital status changes, etc.

The portal has been widely praised for its effectiveness and is considered a major success story in the field of e-governance. This is a critical system that holds sensitive information about thousands of Indian defense personnel and civilian staff, and a breach could have serious consequences for their safety and privacy.

In a recent security breach, the System for Pension Administration Raksha (SPARSH) portal, India’s central web-based system for automating pension processes for defense personnel, including Army, Navy, Air Force, and civilian defense staff, has suffered a massive data leak. Raises a question mark on the capability of TCS.

Thousands of defense personnel’s sensitive information has been exposed in the SPARSH portal data leak, raising serious concerns about the privacy and security of those who have served in the nation’s defense forces.

The SPARSH Portal data leak includes sensitive particulars such as usernames, passwords, URLs, and Pension Numbers, posing a grave threat to the privacy and financial security of the affected pensioners.

Notably, credentials granting access to this sensitive information have surfaced on Telegram, creating the potential for misuse and manipulation of crucial pension-related processes.

The information belonging to the SPARSH data leak is also reportedly being sold on a Russian marketplace, raising apprehensions about the possible involvement of Russian hacker groups. The leaked data, sized at 0.41Mb and priced at $9.00, is attributed to the malware ‘lumma’.

The SPARSH portal, an essential component of the Centralized Pension Disbursement System (CPDS), provides a range of features for defense pensioners.