The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has released a statement on the alleged personal data leak.

Last Saturday, the DICT posted their statement on Facebook.

Based on the post, the DICT through the Philippine National Computer Emergency Response Team (NCERT) of the DICT Cyber Security Bureau has doubled their investigation on the matter.

After getting links to an Azure blob storage with sample ID’s of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau Investigation (NBI) clearances from a security researcher, last February 22, the NCERT began their investigation.

“The said security researcher did not disclose to NCERT the source of the data and what information asset was compromised. Further, the information sent by the security researcher is identical to what was reported by Mr. Jeremiah Fowler and which has since been credited by recent news reports,” it added.

Last March 3 to 23, NCERT gave an incident report on the PNP and NBI’s alleged breach, it said.

The DICT regards the breach as a ‘grave concern’ since it has endangered the ‘confidentiality, integrity, and privacy of user data.’ and that the investigation still carries on.

“The Department would also like to remind all government agencies to increase its cybersecurity measures and to coordinate with the DICT for further capacity building in this area. Cybersecurity should be a concerted effort of everyone and all agencies are encouraged to seek assistance to help secure their respective cyber assets,” it said.