Many students now have the opportunity to view their scores and even acquire their validated marksheets using the Indian government’s DigiLocker website, as thousands of students across rush to their computers to verify their board exam results.
Why is DigiLocker used, and by whom?
Launched in 2015, the DigiLocker platform functions as an app to store digital records for customers. The software can be used for passport applications, marksheet reviews, and identification verification while traveling. The software is a component of the Indian government’s paperless program, which aims to enable individuals to access, validate, and save important papers in a digital wallet for convenient retrieval and presentation to authorities when needed.
Over 270 million people had enrolled on the app as of the beginning of May, and it had been used to retrieve almost 6.7 billion documents, including driving licenses, insurance policy paperwork, Aadhaar, and PAN records.
Why are authorities and users using DigiLocker at higher rates?
With DigiLocker, users can always verify their identity and credentials online by accessing the most recent versions of their documents. This paperless solution was designed to make this possible. This helps prevent bogus, low-quality print copies and out-of-date documents that exclude important information from reaching the verifying officials.
Additionally, this app lets users avoid having to bring along separate sets of documents when they are out and about. Alternatively, the papers may be retrieved and saved locally on a device. These digital documents are theoretically just as legitimate as their physical counterparts. The DigiLocker website also mentioned how utilizing the app can facilitate quicker service delivery.
DigiLocker: How secure is it?
As a flagship project of the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) under the Digital India program, DigiLocker is an application that has been approved by the government and is ideally maintained with stringent security standards that have been established by officials.
On its own website, DigiLocker claims to have typical security mechanisms in place, such as consent processes, timed logouts, multi-factor authentication (OTP verification), and 2048 Bit RSA SSL encryption. However, hackers will always find it easy to obtain user data from government databases that house papers and information about residents and resell it on the dark web.
According to information from the Google Play Store, all DigiLocker data is encrypted while in transit and is never shared with outside parties. Files and documents (optional), your name, email address (optional), and User IDs are a few examples of the data that is gathered.
What problems does DigiLocker have?
Without help, people who are not accustomed to using smartphones or who have trouble navigating apps could find it difficult to download DigiLocker, use OTPs, and retrieve their credentials. Additionally disadvantaged are those who are illiterate.
Another challenge is that individuals using different names, aliases, irregular spellings, or even slightly mismatched certificates, can find it difficult to retrieve their documents through DigiLocker because the app requires the given information to precisely match the issuer’s data. In the past, users have voiced complaints about how minor adjustments like capitalizing letters and initials might have unfavorable effects.
Moreover, official documents are not reviewed consistently by various law enforcement and government agencies in India. Some demand to view papers virtually using DigiLocker, while others assert that physical copies of the original documents are required.
