IN a clarification meeting with National Privacy Commission recently, the Commission on Elections has denied that its database on overseas voters has been compromised, contrary to the published news report of the Manila Bulletin.
Comelec added that the alleged hacking and data breach of its servers, as reported over Manila Bulletin, could not have happened since they have yet to generate the servers for the 2022 national and local elections.
On Jan. 25, the NPC held separate clarification meetings with the representatives of the Comelec and Manila Bulletin.
In an e-mailed statement today, the NPC said it has directed Comelec to submit its full incident report on or before Jan. 27. The privacy body also ordered Comelec to submit additional documents discussed during the clarification meeting.
“On the topic of their full incident report, Comelec sought for extension of time to submit the approved report. NPC issued a subsequent order reiterating to the Comelec to submit the incident report and provide answers to the clarificatory questions stated in the NPC Order dated January 21, 2022,” NPC’s statement reads in part.
However, Art Samaniego of the Manila Bulletin said that the artifacts they gathered, which were the basis of the news report they published, are the same as the ones gathered by the NPC.
“NPC required Mr. Samaniego and Manila Bulletin to provide additional artifacts for analysis and comparison with the artifacts collected by NPC’s Complaints and Investigation Division. The artifacts were submitted to the Commission yesterday, January 26,” NPC’s statement reads.
The privacy body has also summoned Comelec’s third-party provider that could be “possibly involved” in the alleged hacking and database breach.
“Rest assured we are continuing the investigation to determine if personal data was compromised, violations of the Data Privacy Act were committed, and the responsible individual or group for this incident,” said Privacy Commissioner John Henry Naga.
