Gatchalian to CAAP: Probe possible cyberattack following Naia air traffic fiasco

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian
—Senate PRIB file photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) was urged to investigate the possibility of a cyberattack following the New Year’s Day air traffic fiasco.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian made the call on Thursday after CAAP initially said that the airport turmoil due to cyberattack is unlikely.

However, the Senate committee on public services, discussing the snag, learned that no formal probe was launched into the incident.

“Did you conduct any investigation whether this can be… what happened can be a possibility of a cyberattack?” Gatchalian asked.

Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) Undersecretary Alexander Ramos replied that the agency was tapped to help restore the system.

“We have not gone beyond that restoration process. If there was a cyberattack, we have not reached that level of communication within the CAAP system,” Ramos answered.

The CICC official added that they could not provide any conclusion whether a cyberattack caused the airport meltdown due to a lack of tools and equipment.

“We haven’t reached that level due to lack of tools because our focus of assignment here is to help in the restoration only,” Ramos said.

Gatchalian then told CAAP Director General Manuel Tamayo to initiate the investigation.

The Senate panel’s probe stemmed from a supposed power outage that downed CAAP’s air navigation system on January 1.

At least 65,000 passengers were affected by the system failure as their flights were canceled, diverted, or delayed.

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