CHR expresses alarm over hacking of gov’t office websites

(REUTERS)

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) expressed concern on Thursday over the series of hacking incidents and cyberattacks on government agency websites.

CHR Commissioner Faydah Maniri Dumarpa said the attacks pose an imminent threat to the “national security, public trust, and integrity” of government operations, especially in this digital age.

Dumarpa also highlighted the relationship between information and communications technology and human rights, noting that there is a need to put limitations on the negative impacts of technologies through a “rights-based policy framework.”

“The Commission hopes that human rights-based approaches are incorporated into relevant programs and policies, which may aid in the protection of the rights of Filipinos in the digital age. As such, we are also looking forward to doing a holistic study on how emerging technologies and human rights may be further studied so we can come up with recommendations to help the State and ultimately our people,” Dumarpa said.

The CHR said that the series of hacking incidents of  government office websites are a “call” for a more advanced approach in “understanding the intersection between emerging technologies and human rights.”

In September 2023, the website of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation was hacked by Medusa ransomware.

It compromised the personal data of over 13 million members.

Meanwhile, in October, the Philippine Statistics Authority announced that the data from its Community-Based Monitoring System had been accessed by “bad actors.”

In the same month, the official website of the House of Representatives was also hacked and defaced.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology “sandbox” website was likewise hacked in the same month.