MANILA – The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Wednesday the national ID and the Civil Registration System (CRS) were not affected by an alleged data breach.
"The PSA assures the public that the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) and the Civil Registration System (CRS) have not been affected," the PSA said in a statement.
On Oct. 7, information about an alleged data leak involving a system managed by the PSA was posted by a certain actor on social media.
The PSA said it immediately activated its Data Breach Response Team and launched an investigation.
It also coordinated with the Compliance and Monitoring Division of the National Privacy Commission, the National Computer Emergency Response Team - Philippines of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, and the Anti-Cybercrime Group of the Philippine National Police about the issue.
The PSA said based on the initial assessment, the system allegedly affected is limited to the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS).
The CMBS is an organized technology-based system of collecting, processing, and validating necessary disaggregated data that may be used for planning, program implementation, and impact monitoring at the local level.
"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," the PSA said.
"The agency is taking additional preventive and containment measures to ensure the security and integrity of all systems and databases that it manages, including shutting down and isolating the system known to have been affected."
The PSA also warned the public that social media posts with the alleged sample data include links that contain malware that may be used by cybercriminals and bad actors to perpetrate other illicit acts.
"Therefore, the public is strongly advised not to click on such links. The PSA strongly condemns this activity, and we will be working with all law enforcement agencies to apprehend the perpetrators," it said. (PNA)
