I threw this challenge, not as TRAI Chairman, but as a normal citizen of India: RS Sharma

After challenging Twitterati to harm his 12 digit Aadhaar number TRAI Chairman RS Sharma on Sunday said that he disclosed his unique number as an ordinary citizen of India.

"...Please understand that I threw this challenge, not as TRAI Chairman, but as a normal citizen of India," Sharma tweeted replying to two users, one is French security researcher Elliot Alderson who describes himself as the worst nightmare of Oneplus, Wiko, UIDAI, Kimbho and others.

The whole matter came into highlight after Sharma shared his Aadhaar number on Twitter on Saturday.

"My Aadhaar number is 7621 7768 ****. Now I give this challenge to you: Show me one concrete example where you can do any harm to me," tweeted Sharma.

Incidentally, Alderson also tweeted "People managed to get your personal address, dob, and your alternate phone number."

He further added, "I stop here, I hope you will understand why to make your #Aadhaar number public is not a good idea."

Some of the hackers claimed to have his bank account number as well.

There are reports which say several users have decided to donate Sharma Re 1 through AEPS.

However, UIDAI came in front and dismissed the claims made by some hackers.

UIDAI issued a statement and said, this so-called 'hacked' information (about Sharma's personal details such as his address, date of birth, photo, mobile number, e-mail, etc.) was already available in the public domain as he is a public servant for decades and was easily available on Google and various other sites by a simple search without Aadhaar number."

"It is reiterated that in this case...no data has been fetched using his Aadhaar number from UIDAI's servers or Aadhaar database. One could have just googled his name (without Aadhaar number), visited a few other websites and got most of the details which are being shown on Twitter," UIDAI added.