ARE YOU HACKED!!! | UIDAI HELPLINE NUMBER IN ANDROID

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ARE YOU HACKED!!! 

 UIDAI HELPLINE NUMBER FOUND IN ANDROID DEVICES???

Android users find Aadhaar helpline number saved in their phones, Google says it is a bug from 2014

Just days after TRAI chairman RS Sharma overwhelmed web based life, sharing his Aadhaar number on Twitter and testing individuals to harm him, the Unique Identification Authority of India or UIDAI has found itself in fresh controversy. The UIDAI's helpline number is as a rule randomly spared as a matter of course in numerous Android phones, and users have no clue how and why. 

The issue is by all accounts particular to Android phones and isn't restricted to one or two telecom operators or even one or two brands of phones. Most Android phones appear to be influenced, and it doesn't make a difference in case you're utilizing Airtel, Vodafone or Jio. 

Refresh: Google has clarified that the issue is a result of a change it made in 2014. What's more, it has said sorry for it. "Our internal review has revealed that in 2014, the then UIDAI helpline number and the 112 distress helpline number were inadvertently coded into the SetUp wizard of the Android release given to OEMs for use in India and has remained there since. We will work towards settling this in an up and coming release of SetUp wizard which will be made accessible to OEMs over the following couple of weeks," said a Google spokesperson in an announcement issued late on Friday night. 

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UIDAI clarifies stand 

Problem is, the UIDAI helpline number (1800-300-1947) being spared in Android phones across India is not breakthrough, something that even the UIDAI has come up and recognized. Truth be told, the authority has said that it "hasn't asked or conveyed to any manufacturer or service provider for providing any such office," going ahead to fault "personal stakes" for causing confusion. 

The issue became known late on Thursday night when French hacker who passes by the pseudonym Elliot Alderson inquired as to whether they had the UIDAI helpline in their phonebooks. Inside hours, online life was buzzing with individuals posting screenshots confirming that the UIDAI helpline had been spared in their Android phones, without their insight or consent. 

"Numerous individuals, with different provider, with and without a #Aadhaar card, with and without the mAadhaar application introduced, saw that your phone number is predefined in their contact list naturally thus without their insight. Would you be able to clarify why?" Alderson had tweeted. 

UIDAI helpline number in android

Telecom operators do not understand 

Telecom operators are known to package emergency numbers and services with their SIM cards. Often this is after a Government authority makes it a rule. Yet, for this situation, the UIDAI has come up and denied it hasn't given out any such directions. 

While it couldn't be autonomously confirmed with the phone manufacturers, the issue raises both fear and concern, how the helpline number advanced toward such a significant number of Android phones. India Today Tech reached out to Google, and the organization that is behind Android said that it is currently examining the matter. 

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So who did it? Google's Android probably 

The question is from where this number is coming? Furthermore, the presumable answer is that the number is originating from Google's Android operating framework, which powers over 90 per penny smartphones in India. 

The operating framework apparently started adding the UIDAI number to phones a year ago at operating framework level on the basis of a phone's location. The number was added only to phones in India. This is something @kingslyj on Twitter has found.