A Philippine Passport. EXPAT MEDIA

The data of 28 million Philippine passport holders may be compromised due to the absence of a cybersecurity system, according to a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) executive official. During the department's budget hearing on Thursday (September 19), DFA Assistant Secretary Adelio Cruz revealed that the personal information of these passport holders might be at risk. “We’ve experienced a lot of agencies whose data had been hacked, some were sold on the deep web. Unfortunately, if I have to say it, we’re not happy with one government-owned and controlled corporation that’s in charge of printing our passports,” Cruz said. Senator Loren Legarda, who was assigned to defend the DFA’s budget in the Senate, asked whether Cruz was talking about the APO Production Unit. Cruz affirmed that he was. “There was one incident, actually several incidents where their data and system were allegedly breached. Unfortunately, they would not admit to the gravity or to the degree of the breach. We believe it’s being sugar-coated,” Cruz added. The APO Production Unit is a government-owned corporation responsible for printing passports. It operates under the Presidential Communications Office. Cruz stated that the DFA is currently looking into implementing a cybersecurity system and is in negotiations with various cybersecurity firms regarding their rates. “We are very very concerned with the security of our data and we are looking into, seriously looking into the possibility of employing a cybersecurity system for all of our passport data,” Cruz said. Legarda also urged the DFA to provide the Senate with all relevant information, as she intends to file a resolution concerning this incident. The senator also requested that Cruz attend the Senate subcommittee's budget briefing for the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), which oversees the APO, next week. Philippine government agencies have been victims of data breaches. Recent hacking incidents include the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Bureau of Customs (BOC), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), and the House of Representatives. The most notable case is the PhilHealth Medusa Attack in 2023, which compromised the data of 13 million individuals. FLE/Expat Media
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