Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) Data Privacy Officer Nerissa Santiago said on Wednesday, Oct. 18, that the initial analysis of the compromised data revealed a staggering 13 to 20 million records.

"Initially, our analysis, based on what was compromised na mga workstations, these are the names of those we bill to Department of Budget and Management (DBM), kaya nasa local workstations sya (it's in the local workstations),” she said in a press conference.

"One of the workstations na na-compromise na dini-deal namin ay 'yung mga indirect contributors (One of the workstations that was compromised is the one we were dealing with, which belongs to the indirect contributors) to DBM, and part of the indirect contributors are the senior citizens,” she added.

Furthermore, Santiago revealed that the security breach that occurred last Sept. 22 primarily affected employees in the home office, with an estimated 600 to 800 personnel affected.

"For the members, we are talking to local workstations. It's 13 to 20 million names, ‘di pa namin masabi ang exact number (We can't provide the exact number yet),” Santiago said.

Cybersecurity measures

As part of the cybersecurity measures, PhilHealth Information Technology and Management Department's Acting Senior Manager Nelson De Vera said they are expecting the delivery of an anti-virus procurement demo license this week.

De Vera also emphasized the importance of contingency planning, requesting that the demo license be extended for another 30 days from the provider.

"The coverage of this antivirus includes protection against malware and ransomware, and the procurement license is valid for one year, with a cost of approximately P14 million," he said.

Meanwhile, PhilHealth said the cyberattack did not originate within the organization.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has informed PhilHealth that there is a high likelihood that the attack was launched from outside the country, raising further concerns about the security of sensitive healthcare data. (Zekinah Elize Espina)