Smartmatic employee's alleged data breach under investigation

Authorities are investigating whether other Smartmatic employees were involved in the alleged data breach, following the apprehension of one employee.

Senator Imee Marcos stated that the National Bureau of Investigation, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, Department of Information and Communications Technology, and the National Privacy Commission are probing the incident.

Marcos asserted that a criminal hacking syndicate was responsible for the breach, which may have compromised personal information and contact details of Comelec personnel.

An employee of Smartmatic is suspected of allowing files from his laptop to be copied by the syndicate.

Marcos emphasized that Smartmatic should have implemented stricter vetting procedures for its employees, including contractual ones, to prevent such incidents.

The involvement of any political figure with the hacking group remains unconfirmed.