PhilHealth: 13 M members affected by data breach

At least 13 million Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) members have been a ected by the Medusa ransomware cyberattack.

- MAYEN JAYMALIN

“It is really in the millions. Initially, we can surmise that it covers about 13 million data. We are just completing analysis for us to have the complete information,” PhilHealth senior vice president and data privacy officer Nerissa Santiago said at a press conference yesterday.

Santiago said between 600 to 800 PhilHealth employees’ data have also been leaked.

The employees have already been informed, while PhilHealth members are yet to be noti ed regarding their compromised information.

“Since the involved data subjects are very substantial in terms of number and we have just obtained the database from DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) last week, we are still processing and analyzing the data before we can come out with the individual notication,” she explained.

PhilHealth advised the public anew to take the necessary measures to secure their information, especially those online.

PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said the agency is ready to undertake measures to prevent similar cyberattacks as he gave assurances that there would be no disruptions in their services despite the transfer of seven members of the agency’s Executive Committee.