PSA says alleged data breach limited to one system

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 11) —The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday said the alleged data breach is limited to its Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS).

In a statement, the PSA said it has activated its Data Breach Response Team (DBRT) following the alleged data leak posted on social media.

«From the initial assessment, the system allegedly affected is 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,» the PSA said.

It assured the public that the Philippine Identification System and the Civil Registration System are not affected.

«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,» it added.

However, it also warned the public to beware of clicking social media posts with sample data links as these may contain malwares.

In an ambush interview on Wednesday, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan Uy said more government agencies were also hit by a data breach, but some are not reporting it due to issues that might be uncovered.

«There are additional agencies in government that have also been subject to a data breach at malaki rin ito, malaki rin ang pinsala (This is big, the damage is big),» Uy told reporters in an ambush interview.

He said the DICT is waiting for some of the agencies to cooperate fully as they need to check what particular data was compromised and which systems need to be shut down to prevent further exposure.

«Eh ang problema, some of the agencies nagka-clamp down. Imbis na mag-o-open up for us to assist, eh ayaw na maki-cooperate dahil natatakot na mayroon kaming madiskubre at baka kung tawagin kami sa hearing or whatever eh mabubuking saan nagkaroon ng problema,» he said.

[Translation: The problem is that some agencies clamp down. Instead of opening up for us to assist them, they don't want to cooperate because they