By Junex Doronio
SHORT OF SAYING THAT AN IRRESPONSIBLE STATEMENT had been made by Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday has assured that there’s no damaging data breach in their agency.
This came on the heels of a report that millions of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) members were affected by the data breach in the state insurer’s system and Uy has revealed that another agency which he did not name also suffered a cyberattack and data involved could be “significant.”
“Malaki rin ito. Malaki ang pinsala dahil ang breach ay significant. We are currently waiting for them, for that agency to respond to all our requests,” Uy said.
The DICT head attended the DICT GIDAS Network Connectivity Initiative event in Taguig.
In a statement, the PSA said the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), or the program running the country’s national ID implementation, and the Civil Registration System (CRS), which holds the database including birth certificates, “have not been affected.”
The agency, however, admitted that based on its initial assessment, the system allegedly affected was only limited to the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS).
“The PSA is assessing what personal data from the CBMS may have been compromised and will share information with the relevant authorities and the public in due course,” it said. (ai/mnm)