The Minister of Digital Economy and Society invited whistleblowers of government data leaks to discuss and suggest personal data protection measures. He plans to seek Cabinet approval on 11 Aug 2026 to implement two urgent measures requiring government agencies to use multi-factor authentication systems and enforce password resets.
10 Aug 2026 GMT+7 Mr. Chaiyachon Chidchob, Minister of Digital Economy and Society (DES). He revealed this after a meeting on enhancing government agency measures to protect citizens' data, held jointly with Mr. Pradorn Prissanantakul, Minister attached to the Prime Minister's Office, overseeing the National Cybersecurity Agency (NCSA), and related agencies, including Mr. Thanarat Kuwattanapan, Chief Executive Officer of Dome Cloud Company Limited, who exposed the recent government data leak case. This leak involved personal data of the Prime Minister, ministers, and senior civil servants.
Mr. Chaiyachon said the invitation to Mr. Thanarat was to listen to suggestions, which he admitted was very beneficial. Regarding legal matters, the Ministry of Digital Economy has filed complaints under the Computer Crime Act, which is a matter to be handled under the law, separate from inviting Mr. Thanarat to provide useful information.
He revealed that at the Cabinet meeting on 11 Aug 2026, he will propose two urgent resolutions to address data leaks:
1. Require all government ministries’ 300 departments to use multi-factor authentication (MFA) to enhance security for accessing government data, replacing the current password-only system.
2. Enforce mandatory password resets (Force reset password) to render leaked data using old passwords unusable, thereby halting the leakage.
"Global investigations found over 50 billion leaked login credentials; in Thailand alone, about 200 million. These involve 30,000 government systems and 35,000 private sector systems, with leaks occurring through the dark web and other channels."
