Misunderstanding of govt circular led to unmasking of NRIC numbers

Acra CEO apologises for lapse and says agency should have taken more care

- Lee Li Ying

A misunderstanding of an internal government circular and lack of coordination between government staff had led to the disclosure of full NRIC numbers on a new business portal, said the chief executive of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra).

The Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) had in July issued a circular to government agencies telling them to stop using masked NRIC numbers in new business processes and services as part of a broader policy shift to gradually move away from using NRIC numbers as a method of authentication.

At a press conference on Dec 19, Acra chief executive Chia-Tern Huey Min said staff from her agency had "interpreted the requirements to cease the use of masked NRIC numbers as needing to unmask the numbers in our new Bizfile portal".

"Acra sought to clarify with MDDI what were the scope and implementation timeline of this new requirement. But communications between the two agencies were not sufficiently clear, leading to Acra's mistaken thinking," said Mrs Chia-Tern.

Acra rolled out its new Bizfile portal on Dec 9. It allowed the public to access full NRIC numbers via a search for free, sparking concerns about data privacy.

Mrs Chia-Tern apologised for the lapse, which she said had caused anxiety and confusion among the public.