In lieu of gathering a greater user base, Jio seems to have compromised with the security of the Jio customers. On the late Sunday night, Fonearena.com, allegedly reported that “Several sensitive details including first name, last name, mobile number, email-id, circle, SIM Activation Date and even Aadhaar Number have been exposed” on a website called Magicpk.
Varun Krish, the author of this report, claims that to his disbelief he found his details in the database and also a couple of his colleagues were affected as well. Apparently, the saidsite had just a search box, wherein you can enter any Jio number and get details of the customer in return.The website now seems to have been taken down. There are approximately 110 million users of Jio; however; it is still unclear if the details of all the users were up on the website or not.
“We have come across the unverified and unsubstantiated claims of the website and are investigating it. Prima facie, the data appears to be unauthentic. We want to assure our subscribers that their data is safe and maintained with the highest security. Data is only shared with authorities as per their requirement. We have informed law enforcement agencies about the claims of the website and will follow through to ensure strict action is taken”, note the authorities of Reliance Jio.
It may be recalled that earlier Jio had been involved in a bitter controversy with its contemporary, Bharti Airtel, alleging that latter offered services on prepaid connections in Jammu and Kashmir despite the ban in the state. Airtel has counter-attacked the allegation stating that Reliance Jio has continued mobile services by ‘disguising prepaid connections’ as postpaid ones. To counter these issues, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India came up with new rules for predatory pricing.
This is not the first time that the Jio users are facing an issue with the services. Previously, we had found that it is next to impossible to latch onto a Jio network at the Airports.