There is strong evidence that the website yellowcardnigeria.com, a service built for the Federal Ministry of Health to validate yellow cards has been compromised, BusinessDay can report.
A visit to the website on Saturday showed that when a user input their passport number on the ‘Check card Number’ page, rather than take the user to the login page, it opens directly to the data page where the user’s information has been stored. When you increment the number one by one, you are taking to different private information of other users on the website.
BusinessDay has monitored the website since Friday evening and by Saturday the Ministry is yet to respond to situation which could potentially see millions of private information belonging to travellers fall into the wrong hands.
The yellow card is an important document which is given to a person after getting a vaccine against yellow fever disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that travellers are vaccinated to prevent the transmission of yellow fever (YFV) with specific requirements.
The International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005, stipulates that countries may require proof of vaccination from travelers as a condition for entry. They may also take certain measures if an arriving traveler has no yellow fever certificate (or yellow card).
Following an amendment of the IHR 2005 effective 11 July 2016, the validity of a certificate and protection offered by the vaccination changed from 10 years to the life of the traveler vaccinated. Vaccination is recommended for travelers aged 9 months and older.
On 1 April 2019, the federal government under the Ministry of Health phased replaced the old ‘yellow card’ with a new electronic card which they issue to people who have been vaccinated.
Details later…
