Are you wondering if you were among the potentially millions of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) members whose private information was compromised in a recent cyberattack? The National Privacy Commission’s (NPC) newly released online tool may be able to provide you with an answer.
The NPC’s “Na-leak ba ang PhilHealth Data ko?” portal, which was revealed Friday (October 13), lets people instantly check whether or not their data was leaked online on October 5 by the Medusa ransomware group. Here’s a quick guide on how to check the integrity of your PhilHealth data:
How to Check If Your PhilHealth Information Was Leaked
- Visit the NPC’s portal
- Input your 12-digit PhilHealth number
- Check the results
- If hacked, change passwords immediately
Visit the NPC’s portal
Input https://philhealthleak.privacy.gov.ph/ on your web browser to get started. Do read the NPC’s notice on using the tool, as it has its limitations. However, it should be good enough to determine if your PhilHealth data has been compromised. The portal works on both desktop and mobile, so you can use any device to access it.
Input your 12-digit PhilHealth Number
Enter your 12-digit PhilHealth membership ID in the portal’s search bar and await the results. Do note that NPC’s portal is limited to just the known leaked PhilHealth dataset.
“[The portal] does not encompass the entire leaked PhilHealth database or data from other personal data breaches. Therefore, a negative result from this search does not guarantee the security of your data in other contexts or databases,” the site read.
The NPC did, however, add that the portal “is subject to regular updates as additional information becomes available,” which could imply that any of the portal’s blindspots may be addressed in the future, but that’s probably just wishful thinking at this point.
Check the results
If you’re like us and were lucky, then the site will say that your information was not leaked. But for those who get a different message, then it’s all but certain your data is already out there in the wild.
What to do if your PhilHealth data is compromised?
If you searched your PhilHealth ID on “Na-leak ba ang PhilHealth Data ko?” and were told that your data has been compromised, then you can follow the guidelines that PhilHealth itself released.
These measures include something as simple as changing your email and PhilHealth portal passwords to completely canceling your credit card or even contacting the agency directly via [email protected] and [email protected].
Aside from changing your PhilHealth portal passwords, make sure to check the passwords that you used on your other online accounts. This is crucial because there’s a good chance that you might used the same compromised password on your other accounts, which can give hackers more access to steal your data.
Also, make sure to watch for any unusual online activity as well. These can range from scam messages to unauthorized transactions to your credit card–the latter being important for you to report immediately.
