Romualdez wants House briefed on cyberattacks targeting gov’t agencies

House Speaker Martin Romualdez–Photo from House of Representatives

Speaker Martin Romualdez on Monday urged the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to publicly disclose the extent of cybersecurity breaches on government offices and its measures against such attacks.

In a statement, Romualdez also called for a DICT public briefing on the current state of the country’s cybersecurity, stressing that “transparency in this matter is crucial as it affects not just the integrity of our government’s digital infrastructure but also the safety and privacy of our citizens.”

Over the weekend, the DICT said it had blocked cyberattacks from “within China” on government agencies that included the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

According to DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy, some “advanced threat groups” loitered in government mailboxes and Google Workspaces of the DICT, the PCG and the President’s official personal website, bongbongmarcos.com.

“In light of these alarming developments, I am calling on the DICT and other concerned agencies to conduct a thorough briefing for the House of Representatives. This briefing should focus on the nature and extent of these cyberattacks, the current measures in place to prevent future incidents, and strategies for enhancing our cybersecurity infrastructure,” Romualdez said. He added that the briefing could be conducted this week at an open hearing of the House committees on public information, and on information and communications technology chaired respectively by Representatives Jose Aquino II and Tobias Tiangco.

The PCG, on the other hand, said on Monday that its website remains secure.

“A DICT personnel inquired last month if we monitored any attempt to hack our website, but so far, we have not monitored anything. Our website remains secure,” PCG spokesperson Rear Adm. Armando Balilo said in a statement. “We will ensure that the website is secure, that there is enough firewall to prevent it from being infiltrated by hackers.”

READ: PH cyberdefenses building up; attacks down in 2023

Balilo added that PCG commandant Adm. Ronnie Gil Gavan had instructed the PCG Public Affairs Service “to continuously coordinate with DICT and exercise utmost vigilance.”

“While the website is for public consumption, we do not want hackers polluting our site with fake news and making it appear that we authored the spread of falsehoods. We must also protect the site from computer viruses,” he said.

The PCG is one of the agencies mandated to keep watch over the West Philippine Sea as China increases its assertiveness in the South China Sea. INQ