Incidents of data leaks in public sector rose by 10% in 2023

Increase likely due to rise in digital services and most cases were of low severity: MDDI

- Osmond Chia

Incidents of data leaks within the public sector rose by 10 per cent to 201 cases in 2023, likely due to the increase in digital services, said the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) on July 30.

Most of the incidents – 172 of them – were of low severity and had minimal impact on agencies, individuals or businesses, said MDDI in its annual report on the Government’s personal data protection efforts. Such cases have been steadily rising since 2021, when 126 low-severity incidents were recorded.

Medium-severity incidents, defined as those that pose minor inconveniences to those affected, fell to 29 cases in 2023, compared with 46 in 2022.

This is partly due to a progressive roll-out of security measures and more awareness of data security within the public sector, said MDDI.