Late last March, the official website of the Commission of Elections (COMELEC) has been hacked. A few days later, its database containing information of 55 million registered voters has been leaked by another hacking group. About a month later, one of the suspects behind the COMELEC website hacking incident was arrested. But on the same day, the damage made by probably a candidate for the biggest government-related data breach in the world has been done.
"Philippines, we have your data." That is the name of the search engine that was launched on the World Wide Web where users can search for any name and instantly get its information. What they found on the search engine is actually the personal information of the 55 million registered voters that was leaked by Lulzsec Pilipinas. It became a huge concern for those voting for the next future leaders, considering that their personal information will be used for online crimes such as identity theft and so much more.
A few days after its release, the search engine was shut down and the authorities are investigating on that matter. Meanwhile, COMELEC apologized to those that are affected by the said leak stating that it was an unfortunate incident that should not happened in the first place. But as I have said before, the damage has already been done. However, you can't blame the national government for these circumstances. Besides, it can become a matter of national security if the website remains available.
It is a good thing that the data leak will not ever compromise the outcome of the upcoming elections. Let us hope that the next leaders of our country will remain vigilant not only in our local shores, but also on our own physical and non-physical infrastructures no matter what the circumstances may be.
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