Taipei:Passports already issued remain valid despite a data breach involving more than 70,000 passport photos held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Bureau of Consular Affairs (BOCA), the agency stated, adding that passport holders do not need to apply for replacements.
According to Focus Taiwan, BOCA apologized for the personal data breach and the public concern it had caused, saying it had taken emergency measures. The agency discovered the breach on Nov. 4 and immediately formed a task force to isolate the affected servers, investigate the incident, preserve evidence, and report the breach to the relevant information security authority.
BOCA reported that the affected websites have been restored, passed security tests, and resumed operations. The investigation revealed several categories of information accessed by hackers, including 72,702 headshots uploaded to BOCA's website by people or travel agencies applying for or renewing passports online between Sept. 3 and Nov. 2. Applicants who submitted their applications in person were not affected.
The compromised data also included 26,072 scanned letters of authorization verified by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York between Oct. 26, 2021, and Nov. 6, 2026. Applications processed domestically or through other overseas offices were unaffected, as were birth, death, marriage, and academic documents.
Additionally, the breach involved 774 online applications for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Travel Cards submitted between Sept. 1 and Nov. 9, with compromised information including photographs, case numbers, gender, application types, places of birth, job titles, and the names of recommending agencies. However, BOCA confirmed that information directly identifying applicants, such as names, passport numbers, and contact information, had not been leaked. The ABTCs involved in the breach had not yet been issued, and the incident would not affect their issuance or subsequent use.
