No other user data compromised after app glitch, Singtel clarifies
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — A technical glitch led to the personal details, including the residential address, of a single Singtel customer to be revealed to other customers when they logged-in to their My Singtel mobile application on Monday night (Feb 29), sparking fears that more data had been compromised.
And some claimed that the billing and account information pages on the Singtel app also displayed some unusual messages when they logged in, including an insult directed at Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, which Singtel said did not originate from the company and could have been the work of mischief-makers.
Ms Masni Marsiber said she logged-in to her Singtel app on Monday night and saw a different billing address instead of her own. “I was quite shocked to see my account,” Ms Marsiber told TODAY. In response to queries on Tuesday, Singtel said the glitch “was the result of a genuine human mistake by a member of the IT department” and “no other customers’ information have been compromised”.
When queried about the unusual messages some users claimed they saw, the telco said the “data field under users’ account numbers can be edited and customised according to their preferences”. “As such, when the glitch occurred, the said pages carrying ‘unusual messages’ could have been mischievously modified multiple times over and screenshots taken and circulated,” explained the spokesperson. “For the record, these messages did not come from Singtel.”
The telco did not say how many people saw the data of the affected customer. In a statement on Facebook, it also said it was trying to get in touch with the affected customer to apologise and explain.
In response to media inquiries, the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) said it is “aware of the data breach incident and (has) been in touch with Singtel.”
The PDPC spokesperson added that the “PDPC will be investigating this incident”.
As a result of the glitch, the telco suspended the use of the app, before partially restoring access and features. As of 7pm on Tuesday, some features were still unavailable and customers have been been advised to visit myaccount.singtel.com to view those features that have not been reactivated.
