Philippine education ministry hit by data leak involving ove...

A cybersecurity researcher has found a vulnerability that exposed over 210,000 records of the Philippine education ministry to possible hacking and online scams. Mr Jeremiah Fowler, a senior researcher at cyber security firm, said in a report on Feb 20 that he found a gap that gave nearly unencumbered access to an online platform used by senior high school students applying for government vouchers to cover their tuition costs. The cloud-stored database included some 154 gigabytes worth of tax filings, consent forms, government certifications, and employment and death certificates. He said the tax records were particularly vulnerable, as these had the full names of those filing, as well as their home addresses, phone numbers, names of their employers and tax identification numbers. The online application forms, meanwhile, contained the applicants' full name, birthday, gender, address ...