By; PETER NOSAKHARE, Kaduna
Federal Government has once again, assured civil servants in the country that the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) database remains secure and has not been compromised.
This assurance emanated 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 Tuesday in Abuja.
There has been news making the rounds that the ‘IPPIS Payroll Validation section on the official website of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation may have 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 Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), was susceptible to attack because the secure site layer feature of the website had expired and remained unrenewed 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 newsmen showed that the IPPIS section of the website is still inaccessible.
Mokwa stated that, “the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System database has not been compromised,” and reaffirmed that employees’ personnel data is 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.”
