The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has disabled its online passport application tracker, citing a “data privacy issue” and hinting that information could have leaked.
“The DFA’s IT Unit is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding this issue and is taking appropriate measures to secure the data that may have been exposed,” states a notice on the DFA website. “An internal audit will also be conducted to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.”
The Philippines requires citizens to use the site, which launched only a couple of months ago, to apply for a passport – walk-in applications are allowed only under exceptional circumstances. However, at time of writing, the tracker is returning a 404 error. Citizens therefore have no way knowing when or if passports will be approved and/or dispatched.
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Source: The Register