What is masked Aadhaar? Can it prevent misuse?

Unique Identification Authority of India or UIDAI issues an easily verifiable 12 digit random number to all Indians -- which is known as Aadhaar number.

On May 27, while citing a recent “attempt to misuse a photo-shopped Aadhaar card”, the agency office in Bangalore issued an advisory, cautioning people against sharing photo copies of Aadhaar card.

It asked people to share masked Aadhaar instead, which can be downloaded from UIDAI website. The notification also cautioned against using a public computer to download e-Aadhaar. It also said that hotels and cinema halls were not authorised to collect photocopies of Aadhar.

Let us first find out what masked Aadhaar is. To make Aadhaar more secure, the UIDAI gives you the option of a ‘masked Aadhaar ID’. A masked Aadhaar can be shared without revealing the user’s important personal information—including the 12 digit number.

As the name suggests, the masked Aadhaar option basically allows you to mask your Aadhaar number in your downloaded e-Aadhaar. This involves replacing the first eight digits of your Aadhaar number with asterisks. Only the last 4 digits remain visible.

E-Aadhaar is a password-protected electronic copy of Aadhaar, which is digitally signed by the competent authority of UIDAI and can be downloaded from the official website or mobile application of UIDAI.    

But just two days after it issued the advisory, the government withdrew the notification on May 29.

“The release advised the people to not to share photocopy of their Aadhaar with any organisation because it can be misused. Alternatively, a masked Aadhaar which displays only the last 4 digits of Aadhaar number, can be used. However, in view of the possibility of the misinterpretation of the press release, the same stands withdrawn with immediate effect.” -- Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology

While withdrawing the press release, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology -- the parent body of the UIDAI-- claimed that it could be “misinterpreted”. According to the new statement, the Aadhaar ecosystem had adequate features to protect user identity and privacy.

Your masked Aadhaar is password-protected. So, you can open the file by entering the first four letters of your name in capital letters and your year of birth in the YYYY format.