Forum: Company trying to downplay severity of data breach

I was surprised to see WhizComms take what seemed to be a callous attitude towards data security and customers' privacy in the report, "WhizComms data breach: About 50% of customers affected, notified on May 10" (May 11). WhizComms' Web server security was breached and scanned images of customers' NRICs, work permits and visa approval documents were downloaded. WhizComms' spokesman stressed that no other information had been compromised apart from what was found on the NRICs or work permits, and said that home addresses available from scanned NRICs could differ from the actual installation addresses for its broadband service. To verify a person's identity, online services often ask for his NRIC's date of issue, which is printed on the same side as the home address. With the scanned images of NRICs and work permits that were stolen, the third party now has that information for the 24,...