[LIVE] Ministerial statement: Josephine Teo, Indranee Rajah on govt policy on NRIC, ACRA lapse

Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo and Second Minister of Finance Indranee Rajah gave ministerial statements in parliament on Wednesday (Jan 8), addressing questions raised by MPs on the government's policy on NRIC numbers and a recent incident where NRIC numbers were disclosed on the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority’s Bizfile service.

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[beeong]

After listening carefully to statements by Josephine Teo and Indranee Rajah,
my conclusion is the fault lies with MDDI's ambiguous communication which did not clearly explain and specify the intent of the new policy.

ACRA sought clarification but for some reason - there was no or a breakdown in communication between MDDI and ACRA. How come?

ACRA then proceeded to remove the masking of NRIC nos. in the belief that this was what MDDI's ambiguous communication meant.

ACRA must not be held responsible for the fiasco. Josephine Teo, minister overseeing MDDI, must take responsibility.

[avatart]

I think the public is getting more confuse after JT explanation. As the saying go, you cant convince the public, you confuse them. Let me summarize what JT explained:
a) NRIC is an unique identifier. It remains as a person data, organisation collecting NRIC based on needs and handle with care(seek consent on use). It is not a secret, not meant to be disclosed.

b) There is an incorrect use of NRIC as authentication, such that they can be used to unlock access to information(finance, health, address, car registration number etc). One should not use NRIC as password or as an authenticator.

c) NRIC number is not equivalent to Identity card. As the card is more unique becos it contains name, photos, safety marks to prevent fake....

Glad that there is a consensus that NRIC is unique identifier used by schools, hospital, in-election, in marriage, matriculation, jobs, police station, birth certificate, making passport, death certificate, etc. Hence to say that it should not be labelled as secret is sn understatement. Of course NRIC alone does not mean anything to a tom, dick or harry, but it means alot to scammers, police crime investigation, hospital laboratory records etc. The fact that many important o
institution uses its uniqueness to store their database, make it very very important that this information do not fall into hands of scammer, terrorist and someone who do not need to know the information. We trusted the government with this information, all the more we expect the information is safeguarded properly and not to be disclosed to the public.

The case of company using NRIC as authenticator(we understand becos is unique), but as password(password security is usually impose by the IT with combination of alphabet, number, special character and changed every few month, so argument of using NRIC as password is irrelevant)

Finally back to acra which reveals the full NRIC with name, and other information. This is the worst leak as NRIC is tied to the name and mayb property etc etc. This becomes very very sensitive.... as scammer/terrorist can now without effort confirm the NRIC for the person name and hus address. So the rest is just peanuts

I agree that NRIC card is even more unique and a robust way of authentication. However, everything in SG is digitized. With digitisation comes risk of online scam, theft and impersonation of identity

[LonganLee]

So ACRA act allows Public access to NRIC? But is that based on paid process or publicly free access? Free access is an issue or not? Mass access? Paid access is controlled and requestor is known immediately. This fiasco is different . Else we want to know the NRIC of GCB buyer behind the Trust that is ties to the $88m gcb sold

[jbrkjferkjbekjb]

Singpass login ID has been nric for the longest time

[robw]

2018: IC is a sensitive confidential info
2019: Misuse of IC is illegal (PDPA Bill)
2025: IC is not confidential!!

[petertan]

i believe minister josephine teo.chair this interin concluding the right anrld the wrong.this nric having in donkey years .before this minister joint as minister. She is here to solve the issue.she is brave enough.Queen josephine & infranee.boths is cherry. berry of flower.this is my thump up.

[ongernie]

I still think she should shed some tears. To beef up the topic.

[temuchen]

She has obviously studied Sun Tzu's art of war very well to deliver something as clever as this. To win the war without even fighting is the pinnacle of strategy.

[Dan]

Sorry Jo, we made mistake by assuming that NRIC number should be considered as private data. Very sorry🙏

[kokkeeSeck-xsyj]

Since our names and NRIC numbers are so widely used for identification purposes and such datas are not secrets, then how does it matter if such datas are published, logically speaking and legally speaking?

[AWY-LO]

erm wait, who uses NRIC as password? Companies do that like insurance, banks for securing their attached documents.

[kobenson]

Die Die also don't want to admit their mistakes. Still trying to master her tai chi 😂😂😂. Very the thick skin sia. Jalan besar GRC here we come😂😂😂.

[choochootrain]

Stop trying to shift blame to ACRA. This is a quote taken from MDDI’s own website:

“the NRIC number is assumed to be known, just as our real names are known. *There should therefore not be any sensitivity in having one’s full NRIC number made public, in the same way that we routinely share and reveal our full names to others.* “

MDDI is the ministry that equated NRIC to full names. Any security professional could’ve told you that NRICs are significantly more sensitive than full names. Why? Ask Tan Kin Lian when he shared his NRIC online back in 2019—he got locked out of his Singpass after multiple failed login attempts from pranksters.

NRIC is used as part of identification across multiple services such as Singpass and ibanking. It is absolutely more sensitive than full names. MDDI should apologise for making this mistake, instead of the so-called “anxiety” that they have supposedly caused the public.

[hstan]

Josephine may not be representing Jalan Besar GRC in the upcoming ekections, any Opposition party will easily win competing against her.

[jbrkjferkjbekjb]

Indranee looks like she bought that disarming brown jacket just for this occasion (instead of the usual black)

[petertan]

Minister josephine teo.she is able explaint with open heart.no high tone, with solve touch.this feature show that she would be the next Queen of singapore.