The incident was that COVIDCert NI users, under certain circumstances, could see the data of other users.
The Northern Ireland Ministry of Health has temporarily shut down its online COVID-19 vaccination certificate service due to a data breach. The incident was that users of the COVIDCert NI application, under certain circumstances, could see the data of other users.
COVIDCert NI allows Northern Ireland residents who have completed the full COVID-19 vaccination cycle to receive vaccination certificates. This system is separate from the NHS COVID Pass used in England and Wales and works in the same way as the “vaccination passport” used in Scotland. COVIDCert NI is available at covidcertni.nidirect.gov.uk or via the Android and iOS mobile app. At the time of this writing, neither the website nor the applications were working.
The Northern Ireland Department of Health has been alerted to the issue by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Immediate action was also taken to temporarily remove the elements of the service that manage personal data.
While this incident seems minor, it happened at a time when some members of the public are paying a lot of attention and expressing concern about the “vaccination passport”.
The Northern Ireland Department of Health is currently working on a solution to the problem.
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