Although experts have played down the significance and impact of the recent SingHealth data breach as being "demographic" information (Info on 1.5m SingHealth patients stolen in worst cyber attack; July 21), we should remember that banks use exactly such information to verify their customers.

Banks in Singapore should immediately adopt additional measures to identify customers rather than rely on just this data.

It is common for banks to ask for additional information such as the last payment method, but we know that AXS is the common answer.

We should start to do damage control by rendering the stolen data less valuable, for example, by moving away from using one's identity card number or date of birth for identification.

Tony Zeng