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Singapore public health agency face another data security lapse

Following a recent series of security breaches affecting healthcare patients in Singapore, another health public sector agency reported that personal information of 808,201 blood donors was left vulnerable after a third-party vendor failed to securely protect a server containing data. The database had contained registration-related information such as donors’ name and national identification number and, in some instances, blood type and weight.

The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) was alerted on 13 March 2019 that one of its vendor’s servers contained a HSA database that was not adequately safeguarded against access over the internet. The vendor provides services to HSA and was working on a database containing registration-related information of the blood donors: Name, NRIC, gender, number of blood donations, dates of the last three blood donations, and in some cases, blood type, height and weight. The database contained no other sensitive, medical or contact information.

Cyber expert uncovered the vulnerability in the database

A cybersecurity expert had discovered this vulnerability and alerted the Personal Data Protection Commission. HSA immediately worked with SSG to disable access to the database.

The HSA have also made a Police report. The expert has confirmed to HSA that he does not intend to disclose the contents of the database. HSA is in contact with the expert on deleting the information.

Health Services Authority apologises for data breach

Chief Executive Officer of HSA, Dr Mimi Choong, said: “We sincerely apologise to our blood donors for this lapse by our vendor. We would like to assure donors that HSA’s centralised blood bank system is not affected. HSA will also step up checks and monitoring of our vendors to ensure the safe and proper use of blood donor information.”

Third-party vendor failed to put in place adequate security measures

Investigations are ongoing. Preliminary findings from HSA’s review of the database logs show that other than the cybersecurity expert who raised the alert, no other unauthorised person had accessed the database. HSA had provided the data to the vendor for updating and testing.

They then placed the information in an internet-facing server on 4 Jan 2019 and failed to put in place adequate safeguards to prevent unauthorised access. It had done so without HSA’s knowledge and approval, and against its contractual obligations with HSA.

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Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

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CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

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SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

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HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

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IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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