Security News > 2021 > September > Indonesian President's COVID jab cert leaks – authorities argue that's perfectly reasonable
Indonesian authorities have admitted that the COVID-19 vaccination certificate of the nation's President has circulated online and tried to explain that it's an indication of admirable transparency, rather than lamentable security.
In one camp are those who argue that the document's unplanned public debut is more evidence that Indonesia's government is bad at securing information.
Evidence to support that argument is easy to find: The Register alone has chronicled the leak of personal information from Indonesia's COVID quarantine management app, and another at the national health insurance scheme.
The appearance of President Widodo's vaccination records - complete with the date and time at which he was inoculated - has been criticised as undermining public confidence in not just the vaccination process, but government digital services in general.
The statement points out that online services allow retrieval of vaccination certificates for verification purposes, with the citizen's name, national ID number, date of birth, date of vaccine, and type of vaccine all required.
The agencies also argue that they recently enhanced privacy by removing the option to use mobile phone numbers to look up vaccination status.