1 billion Aadhaar records compromised; data breach in India second highest after US, says Gemalto

"During the first six months of 2018, almost 1 billion records were compromised in Aadhaar breach incident, including name, address and other personally identified information. This is particularly concerning, since the stolen, lost or compromised data records of only one out of 12 breaches were protected by encryption to render the information useless, a zero percent compared to the first six months of 2017," the report said.

Email query sent to the UIDAI elicited no immediate reply.

Data breach of over 2 billion users on social media platform Facebook was ranked as top incidence globally following that Aadhaar record compromise where an anonymous service allowed anyone with Rs 500 to access all 1.2 billion Indian citizens' personal information, according to the report.

The Aadhaar custodian UIDAI had denied any breach of data but it had also filed police complaint against the journalist Rachna Khaira and people to whom she reached out as part of her investigation.

Europe saw 36 percent fewer incidents but a 28 percent increase in the number of records breached indicating growing severity of attacks, according to the report.

"The United Kingdom remains the most breached country in the region," the report said.