DOH verifying reports of COVID-19 vaccine data leak

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health said Tuesday that it is validating reports suggesting the compromise and leakage of COVID-19 vaccination data from the Philippines stored within the World Health Organization.

“The DOH is currently in close coordination with WHO and the Department of Information and Communications Technology to ascertain the veracity of this report, as well as to determine the extent of any possible data breaches and the appropriate interventions, should there be any,” the agency said in a statement. 

The department said it will release additional information as soon as it becomes available.

“In the meantime, the DOH assures the public that measures are in place to ensure data privacy, and steps have been taken to reinforce the security of DOH-managed data systems through different security solutions,” it said.

In September, a ransomware attack affected the systems of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. The state health insurer said the attack did not affect the servers containing the private information of its members. 

 A data breach compromises the privacy of individuals, exposes them to identity theft, and causes financial losses due to unauthorized access to banking information.