Telecom Giant MyRepublic Incurs Major Breach
PowerKee’s Bastion of Privacy #41 - Singapore-based telecoms giant reports major cybersecurity attack
Singaporean communications services provider MyRepublic recently reported a significant data breach. The incident is reported to have affected almost 80,000 subscribers, compromising their personal information due to a breach on a third-party storage platform.
This development is one of several recent cases involving stolen data on traditional IT infrastructure. Incidents like these highlight pressing issues with current IT infrastructure and the risks they pose to netizens worldwide.
In the latest Bastion of Privacy, we highlight the increasing trend of cybersecurity exploits that are impacting both enterprises and their users across the globe. We also consider ways in which users can better secure their data and online activity.
Spotlight on Identity Theft
With operations in Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia, MyRepublic has established itself as one of the leading telecom operators in the Asia-Pacific. Thanks to its plans for further expansion beyond these regions, third-party data breaches have greater consequences than initially expected.
While reporting the breach, MyRepublic announced that the event affected 79,388 local mobile subscribers. Compromised user details, according to the report, include identity verification documents such as “scanned copies of national identity cards” and the “residential addresses of foreign residents''. MyRepublic has announced that its IT teams are closely reviewing their security infrastructure to mitigate the possibility of another attack. The company has announced that it hasn’t experienced any operational issues resulting from the breach. Currently, MyRepublic has activated its cyber incident response team and is consulting experts from KPMG Singapore to mitigate the issue.
The company has notified relevant Singaporean regulators of the issue and is cooperating with them. As compensation, MyRepublic is offering its customers complimentary credit monitoring services with Credit Bureau Singapore. On a broader scale, identity theft has grown rampant. Research shows that 1 out of every 15 adults in the United States have their identity stolen each year. Data thefts are on the rise as netizens are forced to transmit sensitive personal information across online platforms tied to government, enterprises, and financial institutions with questionable data management practices.
In the case of MyRepublic, the theft of sensitive verification documents poses particularly pernicious risks. For one, stolen verification documents can be used to impersonate the real owners. Moreover, these documents can be used to steal assets from their owners and access services inappropriately.
The only way of protecting users from identity theft is to develop better data security and storage standards. With the emergence of blockchain technology, innovations that ensure the safety of users’ identity are beginning to emerge.
Blockchain as a data security solution
Blockchain solutions represent a huge step towards achieving a higher level of data security for netizens worldwide. They allow netizens to store and transfer their data across decentralized and highly-secure networks.
While blockchain solutions are not suitable for enterprises like MyRepublic, they do offer the everyday internet user an alternative way to store and manage their data. Privacy-focused blockchains like PowerKee allow users to store and transfer financial value across a decentral network while also having the ability to ensure that their transactions are anonymous.
About PowerKee
PowerKee is a cryptocurrency network that makes privacy easy. Users can transact cheaply and instantly while maintaining anonymity. The PowerKee protocol uses a mixture of zero-knowledge proofs and coin mixing to provide strong privacy to its users.