The Philippines election commission database has been hacked leading to the leak of a stash of voter identifiable information, including passport information and fingerprint data.
The massive breach of the database of the Philippines' Commission on Elections (Comelec) was reported by data security company Trend Micro.
A hacker group posted Comelec's entire database online following the March 27 defacement of the election commission website.
The hackers posted online more mirror links where the database could be downloaded, Trend Micro said, adding that this is the biggest data breach in the Philippines so far.
Philippines has more than 55 million registered voters, and the country is in the middle of the campaign for the presidential elections to be held on May 9.
The hacks have put the spotlight on Philippines election authority's ability to ensure the accuracy of the elections process, especially the precision of the Automated Voting System (AVS).
Following the hack, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a statement the security of the website was not high.
However, he dispelled fears that the breach will compromise the upcoming election, saying that the AVS ran on more secure network and that the data hack will not affect the machines.
The data dump included 1.3 million records of overseas Filipino voters and 15.8 million records of fingerprints.
Senator Grace Poe is tied in a four-way race for presidency with Vice President Jejomar Binay, Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and administration standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II offering stiff competition to the senator.
