The Federal Government has assured civil servants that the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System database is secured.
This assurance was made known from a statement issued out by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, through the Director of Press and Public Relations, Bawa Mokwa, on Monday in Abuja.
Fusion Chronicles gathered that the ‘IPPIS Payroll Validation section on the official website of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation had been hijacked by an unknown hacker.
Report also has it that workers’ data stored on the official website of the IPPIS Secretariat, a department at the OAGF, was vulnerable to attack because the secure site layer feature of the website had expired and not renewed for over a year.
Meanwhile, in the statement, the OAGF said the government is committed to maintaining and operating a safe and efficient personnel and payroll management system.
“the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System database has not been compromised,” and reaffirmed that employees’ personnel data was secure”. Mokwa stated
The OAGF, further revealed that it has implemented an ICT Security Policy which aimed at safeguarding its digital assets, noting that the policy aligns with global best practices in cybersecurity and ensuring the continuous protection of sensitive data within government systems.
“No data is saved on the OAGF website,” the statement clarified, addressing rumours that sensitive information may have been stored or compromised through the website.
“The IPPIS uses the website only to share information, not for transactions. Neither payroll nor payments are made through the website, therefore, no data is contained in the website,” Mokwa stated.
The statement further explained that the IPPIS Validation Portal, recently developed to update employee information, had been deployed for a specific period. Once the data validation exercise was completed, the portal was shut down permanently to prevent any further access.
“The IPPIS Validation Portal was deployed on a secure platform,” the statement read, adding that a secure database and application system were procured from HELIX-FONS, a reputable international software provider.
The office acknowledged that the IPPIS is of utmost importance to Nigerian workers, thus it became imperative to assuage the fears of any loss or breach of employees’ data in the IPPIS database.
