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News of the Narendra Modi government making it mandatory for phone makers and importers to install its own cyber security app, Sanchar Saathi, on all new devices and crucially to ensure that users cannot delete it has naturally led to serious concerns over privacy of Indian citizens.

Many said this is an Orwellian surveillance measure, highlighting that the government now essentially has the “dystopian tool” to track your every move.

Some old faithfuls have defended the imposition of the Sanchar Saathi app, saying that law-abiding Indians should not have anything to hide from their government. That is indeed a valuable sentiment. Notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s Puttaswamy judgement deeming privacy a fundamental right, the question then arises as to whether the government has been able to honour, safeguard and protect our data in the situations where it has taken it.

So low is the average Indian’s trust in this matter that data breaches are now no longer a matter of concern. As many as 87% of 36,000 citizens surveyed by LocalCircles from 375 districts said that they believed that one or more of their personal data elements are already in public domain or in databases that have been compromised.

A report found that India, in the first quarter of 2025, emerged as one of the top five nations to be targeted by ransomware, with a 126% year-over-year surge in attacks. Yet another found that India has emerged as the second most targeted nation for cybercrime attacks in 2024, only trailing the US. The Union government has itself noted how cybersecurity incidents in India rose from 10.29 lakh in 2022 to 22.68 lakh in 2024.

With very little by way of expectation towards the government, here are some noteworthy instances where Indians found their government-held data........

© The Wire