The Federal Government of Nigeria has reassured civil servants that the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) database remains secure and has not been compromised.
This assurance came from a statement issued by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, through the Director of Press and Public Relations, Bawa Mokwa, on Monday in Abuja.
A news report claimed 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.
It also claimed that workers’ data stored on the official website of the IPPIS Secretariat, a department at the OAGF, was susceptible to attack because the secure site layer feature of the website had expired and has not been renewed for over a year.
However, in the statement, the OAGF said the government is committed to maintaining and operating a safe and efficient personnel and payroll management system.
Checks by journalists showed that the IPPIS section of the website was still inaccessible when this report was filed.
Mokwa stated that “the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System database has not been compromised,” and reaffirmed that employees’ personnel data was secure.
The OAGF, which is responsible for overseeing the management of the IPPIS and other federal financial initiatives, revealed that it has implemented an ICT Security Policy aimed at safeguarding its digital assets.
According to the OAGF, this policy aligns with global best practices in cybersecurity, 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 clarified 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.
The OAGF noted that the IPPIS has put in place the necessary mechanism to resolve any problem that may arise in its operations and advised workers who observe anomalies in their salaries to follow the official procedures to get such issues resolved.
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