The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) suffers a massive data breach when a previous outsourced passport maker run off with all the applicants’ data after the government terminated its contract with them.
The issue was made public when Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said the following in his personal Twitter account in response to questions from some concerned netizens: “[W]e are rebuilding our files from scratch because previous outsourced passport maker took all the data when contract (was) terminated.”
Everybody agrees with me that old passport is 1000% ID better than birth certificate: the holder applied for it and not someone else for a baby. But we are rebuilding our files from scratch because previous outsourced passport maker took all the data when contract terminated. https://t.co/cPjC3w7kAt
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) January 8, 2019
The DFA is requiring some of those who are renewing their passports to bring their birth certificates. DFA Assistant Secretary Elmer Caro said in a separate tweet said that this is a requirement for applicants renewing brown or green passports or maroon machine-readable passports.
Locsin and Cato offered no clear explanation as to how the breach actually happened. Locsin, however, said the following insights in another post. “Because previous contractor got pissed when terminated it made off with data. We did nothing about it or couldn’t because we were in the wrong. It won’t happen again. Passports pose national security issues and cannot be kept back by private entities. Data belongs to the state,” he tweeted.
Because previous contractor got pissed when terminated it made off with data. We did nothing about it or couldn't because we were in the wrong. It won't happen again. Passports pose national security issues and cannot be kept back by private entities. Data belongs to the state. https://t.co/8vsN96jqij
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) January 8, 2019
A formal investigation about this massive government data breach is yet to happen. But the government, especially the DFA, needs to address this issue immediately.
