Privacy commission probing report of data breach from Globe Telecom

MANILA, Philippines – The National Privacy Commission is verifying a report from Globe Telecom about a personal data breach affected 8,851 prepaid customers after registering for free entertainment last Sunday.

NPC Commissioner Raymund E. Liboro said in a statement the agency was validating and verifying the information provided by Globe.

“Those who may have been affected are advised to monitor their online and offline accounts for any unusual activity, to change passwords and other means of identity verification, and to be careful of phishing attempts and other online risks,” Liboro said.

According to Globe, those affected were prepaid customers who have registered to the telco’s “On The List” program to avail of concert tickets and other music venues of Globe events.

Globe said it has “rectified the issue” which was a case of sending the data registration confirmation receipt to the wrong individual and was not forwarded en masse or as a group of data.

Globe chief information security officer Anton Bonifacio said the registration site was taken down immediately to remove access to potential registrants at the time and we have notified all affected prepaid customers.

The company added that those who were just 8,851 out of 60 million prepaid customers.