Customs taps Microsoft in P170-M antihack move

LINA

BUREAU of Customs (BOC) commissioner Alberto Lina said the rising cases of cyberattacks continued to compromise government data and cause revenue losses of up to P64 billion every year for the agency.

The BOC expressed alarm as he acknowledged that up to 85 percent of the bureau’s IT system “is compromised” and needs to be protected from all forms of cyberattacks.

In 2015, he said, the BOC suffered a P64-billion deficiency mostly due to activities traced to cybercriminals.

In a countermove, the BOC has launched a partnership with IT giant Microsoft for the digitization of the bureau’s systems and services and the integration of its cybersecurity programs. The P170-million project will be implemented in the next three years.

According to Ferdie Saputil, director of Microsoft Public Sector, the company also engages other government agencies to promote transparency and security of government data.

Lina said a common cybercrime activity affecting the agency involves identity theft, wherein hackers posing as BOC agents try to obtain sensitive information about companies.

Lina said “we have already been breached, it’s no longer an issue of defense for our (IT) system.”

“We need to fortify internal operations, clean it up and come up with programs to identify cyberthreats,” said Lina. “We cannot start small, we need to create the perimeter in our system.”