National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. alerts public of possible data breach

The National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) has notified the public about a possible data breach.

“Please be advised that there has been a malicious attempt to access the application systems of the NHMFC,” the agency said in a notice posted on its website dated April 4, 2024.

“We have reason to believe that there may have been a data breach and the investigation and assessment is ongoing,” the NHMFC said.

The National Privacy Commission (NPC), for its part, said the NHMFC already submitted its breach notification to the Privacy body on April 3 at 1:27 p.m.

The NHMFC’s notification of a possible data breach came days after the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) reported that almost two terabytes of its data was compromised by local hackers, which include the personal information of scientists, members of the DOST organization, as well as the schematics and designs of invention projects, some of which are ongoing.

The NHMC, meanwhile, advised the transacting public “to change your passwords and exercise the necessary precautions when transacting business online.”

“Be cautious when accessing websites or links, as well as in giving information via online platforms and other means, such as phone calls or emails,” it said.

“Do not open emails from unknown sources and always verify or double-check the websites or links you are accessing, in order to ensure that they are legitimate,” it added.

The NHMFC assured the public of its commitment to protecting personal information.

The agency was created in 1977 by virtue of Presidential Decree 1267, with the mandate of increasing the availability of affordable housing loans to finance Filipino homebuyers on their acquisition of housing units through the development and operation of a secondary market for home mortgages. —Ted Cordero/ VAL/RSJ, GMA Integrated News