By Liezelle Soriano
THE systems of the Philippine National Police and the Department of Science and Technology have been breached, the Department of Information and Communications Technology said Friday, the 13th of October.
“Dito sa DOST, we confirm na mukhang breaches nga ito. Initial report is that there are some experts’ data, [personal identifiable information] ng mga experts,” DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy said in a radio interview.
“Meron din kasing report sa PNP, pero iyan ay sobrang luma naman iyan so kumbaga hina-hype lang nila pero lumang tugtugin na rin iyon,” added Dy.
While experts consider the data breach “dangerous,” Dy claims the leak is on a small scale.
“We’re going to advise DOST to also advise the people whose credentials were leaked to make the proper defenses or mitigations,” Dy said.
Earlier, a data breach in the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) was also reported.
DICT said that is now looking at possible suspects behind the data breach in PSA.
However, Information and Communications Technology Spokesman Assistant Secretary Renato “Aboy” Paraiso did not disclose the name or what group was behind the attack.
“We want to be responsible as well in statements that we would issue out so we will be more accurate and responsive to all the queries. With the PSA, our suspect is local and amateur,” Paraiso said.
Meanwhile, the official reminded the public to be vigilant.
“We would like to ask the public to be very vigilant at huwag ho masyadong mag-panic given that again we have very competent people here in DICT and we would be very transparent if there is an actual attack that happened as long as we can confirm it we will tell the public right away,” Paraiso said.
(ai/mnm)
