MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa on Tuesday assured the public that “mechanisms are in place” to ensure the confidentiality of public data following the reported hacking of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) database.
The hacked WHO database, Herbosa said, contains, among others, Covid-19 vaccination information from the Philippines.
“The DOH assures the public that the mechanisms are in place to ensure that the confidentiality of data and it has taken steps to further reinforce the security of data systems managed by the DOH through our Knowledge Management and information Technology services,” Herbosa said on the sidelines of the 20th World Congress of Chinese Medicine and the 15th Traditional and Alternative Health Care Congress at the Manila Hotel.
Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan Uy told INQUIRER.net that the hacking incident happened about two days ago.
Herbosa said that the Department of Health (DOH) is coordinating with the DICT and WHO about the incident.
“In response, the DOH is currently in close coordination with the WHO and the DICT to ascertain the veracity of this report, as well as to determine the extent of any possible data breaches and the appropriate interventions should there be any,” Herbosa added.
The health secretary said that DOH will release additional information as it becomes available.
In the meantime, he advised the public to remain vigilant and secure their personal and private data online.
“Think before you click,” he said.