A “technical issue” in the Council for Estate Agencies’ (CEA) IT system caused the names and NRIC numbers of 3,320 individuals to be accidentally leaked to 18 unintended recipients on 21 Jan.
CEA, the statutory board overseeing the real estate agency industry, discovered the data leak at 11.21am on 22 Jan and took immediate action, a spokesperson told MS News.
The exposed dataset included names and NRIC numbers of individuals who had registered for the March 2024 Real Estate Salesperson or April 2024 Real Estate Agency exams.
For illustration purposes only
CEA promptly disabled the affected system function and initiated an investigation to identify the root cause of the data leak.
Initial investigations revealed that the incident was an isolated case caused by a technical issue.
The agency confirmed that it has secured the IT system involved in the breach and implemented recovery measures.
A comprehensive review of its systems and processes is also underway, in collaboration with its vendor, to prevent future occurrences.
“We take data privacy seriously and sincerely apologise for this lapse,” the CEA spokesperson said. “We are committed to strengthening our internal processes to ensure the safeguard of privacy and security of data entrusted to us.”
The Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) also told MS News that, in line with the public sector data incident management framework, CEA has taken immediate steps to address the issue.
CEA is also conducting a comprehensive review of its systems and processes, the spokesperson added.
Also read: ‘It bothers me’: 80% of people polled not comfortable with unmasking NRIC number
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Featured image by TheSmartLocal, for illustration purposes only.
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