Privacy watchdog says studying Globe 'data breach'

MANILA - The National Privacy Commission (NPC) said Tuesday it was evaluating a "personal data breach" issue reported by Globe Telecom, which affected 8,851 customers.

Globe confirmed the breach but said that the issue had been "rectified."

The affected customers registered last Friday to Globe’s "On The List" promo after receiving an SMS saying they were eligible to avail of tickets to the concert of Korean pop group Blackpink.

The site stated that after registration, they will receive a copy of the form they filled up.

Affected users told ABS-CBN News that they registered their full name, complete address, mobile number and date of birth.

But some customers said they received a different subscriber's information instead of their own data. One customer told ABS-CBN News that they tried to re-register, but again received information from another prepaid subscriber.

Globe said it took down the website immediately to "remove access to potential registrants at the time." All affected prepaid customers were notified, said Globe chief information security officer Anton Bonifacio.

"Our team is still evaluating the incident and verifying the information given to us, following our standard procedure," NPC Commissioner Raymund Liboro said in a statement.

Liboro advised affected Globe customers to monitor their online and offline accounts for any unusual activity and to change passwords and other means of identity verification.