By Junex Doronio
APPARENTLY EXASPERATED IN THE FACE OF DATA LEAKS in government agencies, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has ordered the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to be proactive and to enhance its defense capabilities against cyber attacks.
DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy said the President also wants to know the technical details of the cyber attacks on government agencies.
“Kahapon (Thursday, October 12), the President called us and he’s really very frustrated with what’s happening here. And he actually told us that we should really beef up our defenses,” Dy said in his interview on Dobol B TV.
Earlier, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) was hit by a cyber attack that resulted in the leak of some of its data.
This was followed by cyber attacks on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
“He wants to know the technical details. Sabi nga niya (He said) we shouldn’t be reacting after the fact, we should be prepared before it happens,” Dy further bared.
On Thursday, October 12, DICT spokesperson Renato Paraiso claimed that the department had already identified the suspect behind the data breach in PSA.
Dy said the suspects who posted and leaked the data from PSA and DOST are the same. However, he did not identify the culprit.
(ai/mnm)