NRIC unmasking issue: No evidence of deliberate wrongdoing by agencies, says Govt panel
A Government review into the National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) unmasking issue found no evidence of deliberate wrongdoing or wilful action by officers from the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) and Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra).
However, the review panel, led by civil service head Leo Yip, said on Monday (March 3) there was a «confluence of shortcomings» by both agencies that should have been avoided.
Privacy concerns were raised over Acra's Bizfile portal, which showed names and full NRIC numbers for free via its search function from Dec 9 to 13 last year.
This caused public alarm and the number of searches on the portal spiked to 500,000 during the five-day period, instead of the usual daily traffic of 2,000 to 3,000 searches.
The Government subsequently apologised for the anxiety caused and explained that the error was due to a misunderstanding between MDDI and Acra.
They had intended to change the practice of masking NRIC numbers, but Acra launched its new portal before these plans were publicly announced.