Fire services warn of potential leakage of personal info of 5500 people

A spokesman for the Fire Services Department (FSD) said on Monday that the department discovered a potential personal data leakage incident on one of the IT systems last Friday (May 3), while there is no evidence that relevant data has been released.

According to the preliminary investigation, FSD believes the incident happened while the outsourced contractor handled the data migration procedure. The access rights to the data were altered without authorization, posing a potential risk of data leakage. 

The data includes the surnames and phone numbers of approximately 480 members of the public who reported tree collapse incidents during Super Typhoon Saola on September 2 last year.

The data also includes the personal information of about 5,000 FSD members, including their names, phone numbers, ranks and numbers, as well as postings. 

Among them, 960 members' incomplete identity card numbers are also involved.

FSD has requested that the outsourced contractor suspend the system and all of its contract jobs immediately. The contractor's access rights to the system have been withdrawn to prevent data leakage.

The department has also reported the incident to the police, the Security Bureau, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer.

FSD expressed their sincere apologies over the incident, and added that they had notified the affected members of the public through SMS or phone calls.