TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Three senior employees responsible for managing data under Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) system were questioned on Monday (Jan. 9) for alleged breach of user data and intelligence leaks.
The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office received a tip about a potential data breach at the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA), which is part of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Two senior officials and a senior employee were said to have leaked massive user information to unknown parties from 2009 to 2022.
The prosecutors on Monday stormed the residences of Yeh Feng-ming (葉逢明), a retired NHIA chief secretary, and NHIA employees Lee Jen-hui (李仁輝) and Hsieh Yu-lien (謝玉蓮), who are working at its enrollment division. The three were questioned for hours and Hsieh was released on NT$100,000 (US$3,284) bail.
Hsieh was found to have particularly queried data on those working in the country's investigation bureau, immigration bureau, and police departments. According to Taiwan's National Intelligence Service Act, querying, collecting, and leaking personal information of those working for intelligence agencies is a felony. The female official could be charged with breaching national security.
China Times reported that the three had probably leaked data on hundreds of thousands of people to unknown parties for over 13 years. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau has also joined the investigation to sort out whether the personal data of political and business people had been sold to criminal rings.
The NHIA said on Tuesday (Jan. 10) that the two employees had been removed from their posts and barred from the NHI data query system during the investigation.