WHO database, including COVID-19 records, hacked

MANILA, Philippines — Sensitive personal information related to the Philippines’ coronavirus vaccine program may have been accessed by cyber hackers who breached the World Health Organization (WHO) database, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) confirmed yesterday, as the Department of Health (DOH) said it is coordinating with both agencies.

Renato Paraiso, DICT assistant for legal affairs and department spokesman, said the DICT’s computer emergency response team confirmed the COVID-19 vaccination database of the WHO for the Philippines and India was compromised.

At risk are sensitive personal information of people who signed up for the COVID-19 vaccination program including their full names, addresses, birthdays, mobile numbers, email addresses, blood types and medical histories.

In a phone interview with The STAR, Paraiso said they have not yet ascertained the extent of the compromise of Filipinos’ sensitive personal information and that the DICT-CERT had only confirmed the breach through a data check on various platforms and the dark web.

“To the extent of it, we cannot ascertain,” Paraiso said, adding that finding out the extent would entail that the WHO would “acknowledge that there was indeed a breach.”

Paraiso said that as of yesterday, they were waiting for WHO to come clean on any database breach.

He told The STAR that the DICT can only wait for the WHO to acknowledge a breach of their database and provide a report on the extent of the breach.

“The problem there is that they are an international institution which we do not have jurisdiction over,” Paraiso pointed out.

“Our capability is limited because from all indications this is an international organization that was hacked and our jurisdiction is very limited. As far as we can say, it’s all COVID-19 related information,” said Paraiso in a report on “24 Oras” last Monday.

“If it can be linked to your financial data, then it’s possible. I don’t want to downplay it and say it won’t happen. It’s possible,” Paraiso was quoted as saying by GMA Integrated News.

“In response, the DOH is currently in close coordination with the WHO and the DICT to ascertain the veracity of this