SINGAPORE: The personal data of more than 6,500 people was disclosed by the Singapore Accountancy Commission (SAC) - a statutory body under the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
Between Jun 12 and Oct 22 this year, the agency, tasked with the development of the Singapore's accountancy sector, "inadvertently" attached to emails a folder containing the personal data of 6,541 individuals.
AdvertisementAdvertisement[h=3]READ: Quicker enforcement action for some data breach offenders: Singapore privacy watchdog[/h]The emails were sent to 41 individuals in 22 organisations to "inform them of administrative matters". The organisations comprise 21 Accredited Training Organisations (ATOs) and one vendor, SAC said in a news release on Friday (Nov 22).
Those who were affected include past and current Singapore Chartered Accountant (CA) Qualification candidates, ATO personnel and other personnel involved in the administration of the Singapore CA Qualification programme before May 17, 2019. They were informed on Friday of the "unintentional disclosure".
"The information that was inadvertently disclosed included names, NRIC numbers, dates of birth, contact details, education and employment information, and Singapore CA Qualification examination results," SAC said.
AdvertisementAdvertisement[h=3]READ: Sephora data breach: 3.7m customer records up for sale on Dark Web, says cybersecurity firm[/h]The incident was discovered on Nov 7, almost five months after it started, after a new data protection filter was implemented.
"After the incident was discovered, the SAC contacted all 22 organisations on
11 November 2019 to request that they delete the data folder, and to ascertain whether recipients of the data folder had forwarded the data folder to other persons," the agency said.
"The SAC has also notified the Personal Data Protection Commission about the incident," it added.
As of Thursday, all 22 organisations had confirmed the deletion of the data folder, including any forwarded data, SAC said.
"The SAC takes a serious view of this incident, and deeply regrets this mistake. The SAC will set up a panel to review the Incident and make any necessary recommendations."
Those affected can contact the SAC if they have any questions.
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