UIDAI is expected to make it compulsory, in next 4-5 months, for all biometric devices using Aadhaar authentication to embed Aadhaar encryption key into the device at the time of manufacturing.
Today, all such devices are STQC certified but registration by way of embedding the encryption key of UIDAI will add another security layer to the hardware at a time when such devices are all set to take the centre-stage in biometric-based digital payments.
“We are going to say that in India only registered devices will work (for Aadhaar authentication). If you want to use Aadhaar authentication then your devices will have to be registered with us,” Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of UIDAI, told PTI.
Pandey said, registration with UIDAI implied that the device will be embedded with Aadhaar encryption key of UIDAI at manufacturing stage itself.
“Today, if anything has to be used for Aadhaar authentication, it has to be STQC certified. We are now going one step further, we are going to put our encryption key in every device. All devices will have to be registered by us, it will further add to the security,” he said.
Asked about the time-frame in which UIDAI will mandate the same, Pandey said, “in the next 4-5 months.”
He said the same would hold true for smartphones or any other biometric device which have to be used for Aadhaar authentication.
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