Viewing NIN as essential data for sustainable development – NDPC
The Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) calls on Nigerians to always consider the National Identification Number (NIN) as critical data for sustainable development.
Babatunde Bamigboy,
The NDPC’s Head of Legal, Enforcement and Regulation said this in a statement in Abuja on Thursday.
Bamigboye noted that the commission is investigating an alleged data breach by Expressverify.com, a licensee of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
He said licensees would be subject to further scrutiny to ascertain the role of data breaches in the NIN verification process.
“Following a report of a fraudulent National Identification Number (NIN) verification incident by expressverify.com, our investigation revealed that there was a third party that was originally authorized to provide verification services to the public. .
“Genuine companies may have allowed expressverify.com to perform verification using their NIN verification credentials, but the circumstances surrounding this permission are still under investigation.
“Currently, data processing by licensees is subject to general scrutiny, and going forward only those authorized based on reliable evidence of regulatory compliance will be permitted to perform NIN verification. .
“The public should view NIN as essential data for sustainable development,” he said.
He noted that while attempting to remediate the expressverify.com incident, NIMC followed established remediation procedures and prohibited all forms of access to the database.
He said the ban was necessary, but banning any form of access would affect all genuine and important verification requests.
“As a result of the review, we were granted limited access to several facilities that provide important public services such as education and security.
“The ongoing investigation by the relevant authorities aims to establish the medium through which expressverify.com obtained bona fide third party credentials and determine the liability of those involved in accordance with current law.
“Although existing technical and organizational measures have been strengthened to ensure the protection of this data, it is important for citizens to ensure that data does not remain unknown within the various frameworks for development. is.”
“It is equally important to exercise caution when sharing personal information on various online platforms,” Bamigboye said.
He said training will be conducted to ensure that staff and licensees comply with the duty of care and standards of care mandated by the Nigeria Data Protection Act, NIMC's Privacy Policy and other relevant regulatory protocols.
Source: guardian.ng