About 140,000 work pass holder files were impacted by a data security event linked to Fullerton Health’s Migrant Worker Primary Care Plan (PCP) initiative that was first revealed earlier in the week, the medical provider announced on Saturday.
- Fullerton Health disclosed that approximately 43,000 of the compromised records belonged to individuals whose work passes were no longer valid.
- Initial reviews indicated that the exposed data of migrant workers may have encompassed full names, foreign identification numbers, dates of birth, mobile numbers, email addresses and residential addresses.
- The healthcare provider said that no health, medical, or personal financial information was compromised in the incident.
Fullerton Health had previously stated in a Nov 9 website notice that it uncovered the security breach on Oct 31, though it did not reveal the total number of impacted workers at that time. Upon identifying the issue, the medical organization immediately disconnected the server supporting the PCP programme and deployed protective measures throughout its network to safeguard its infrastructure.
“No health, medical or personal financial information was compromised in the incident,” Fullerton Health told CNA.
“As part of our remediation efforts, we are building an entirely new server, with security measures in place from the outset, to serve as a new PCP Enrolment Portal,” Fullerton Health said.
In its most recent update to CNA, Fullerton Health mentioned that Logicalis, its security monitoring partner, detected no signs of suspicious activity or breaches across the Fullerton Health systems under its watch, according to the partner’s initial assessment.
The company maintains a defence-in-depth security approach that utilizes multiple tiers of safeguards to protect its data and infrastructure, according to Fullerton Health. The company added that it will continue to monitor new threats to improve its security.
The healthcare provider said that it has delivered two waves of alerts to impacted migrant workers via their employers. Fullerton Health urged the migrant workers to remain vigilant when handling unsolicited phone calls, text messages, emails, or other contacts asking for personal details.
The Ministry of Manpower has also notified affected workers directly through its FWMOMCare mobile application for migrant workers. The PCP programme is administered by MOM.
| Metric | Details |
|---|---|
| Total Records Exposed | About 140,000 |
| Expired Pass Records | About 43,000 |
| Discovery Date | Oct 31 |
| Initial Notice Date | Nov 9 |
Fullerton Health pointed out that alerts sent through the mobile app were delivered in the workers’ native languages to ensure they fully comprehended the situation and knew what protective steps to follow.
