Taiwan’s Ministry of Civil Service suffers data breach impacting over 240,000 civil servants

• The agency reported that almost 243, 376 civil servants’ information has been compromised and made available on foreign websites.
• The compromised information includes ID numbers, names, national identification card numbers, agency information, job designation, and the agencies the civil servants work for.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Civil Service (MOCS) suffered a data breach compromising the personal information of almost 243,376 civil servants including both local and central government officers.

What information was compromised?

The Ministry was notified about the data breach on June 22, 2019, by a government agency. The agency reported that almost 243,376 civil servants’ information has been compromised and made available on foreign websites.

The compromised information included ID numbers, names, national identification card numbers, agency information, job designation, and the agencies the civil servants work for.

What was the immediate action taken?

• Upon discovery, the ministry reported the incident to the National Center for Cyber Security Technology in accordance with the Cyber Security Management Act.
• MOCS has taken the necessary action to address the data leak in compliance with the Personal Information Protection Act.
• It has started notifying the potentially impacted individuals about the incident.
• The ministry said that it has begun checking for flaws in the compromised information system that was taken offline in March 2015.
• It has also taken preventive measures to control access to the information system in order to prevent future hacks.
• Meanwhile, the Investigation Bureau under the Ministry of Justice has launched an investigation to determine the origin of the incident.

“Chen Chi-mai, Vice Premier said that the Executive Yuan's cyber security unit first found the breach and notified the ministry, adding that he has instructed the cyber security department to help the ministry fix the problem,” a local news outlet reported.