A PHILIPPINE senator filed on Monday a resolution that seeks to probe the recent string of cyberattacks on government systems, the latest of which was Sunday’s defacing of the House of Representatives (HoR) website.
In filing Senate Resolution 829, Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel said citing the need to protect information that could risk national security and the privacy and protection of Filipino citizens.
Prior to the hacking of the HoR website, previous weeks saw data breaches in varying degrees of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), and the Department of Science and Technology (DoST).
Apart from government databases, the De La Salle University announced last week that a “data security incident” affected its online system, prompting it to seek assistance from the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT).
“The state has an inherent obligation to ensure that personal information in information and communications systems in the government and the private sector are secured and protected,” Ms. Hontiveros-Baraquel said in her resolution.
She cited data from the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group stating that there had been 16,297 reports of cybercrime in the first quarter of 2023.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Monday afternoon’s HackforGov 2023 Finals Awarding, DICT Assistant Secretary Renato A. Paraiso said that judging from the language used in the defacement of the HoR website, which was Filipino, there is a likelihood that local hackers were behind it.
Uploaded on its website was an image of a trollface with the words, “You’ve been hacked, have a nice day,” written. “Happy April Fullz kahit October palang! Fix your website hacked by ~3musketeerz,” the caption read. [Happy April Fullz even if it’s just October! Fix your website hacked by ~3musketeerz.]
Last week, the DICT also said it believed a local hacker was behind the data breach of the PSA systems, while a “very professional international cybercriminal syndicate” was behind the ransomware attack on PhilHealth.
The agency earlier reported a Medusa ransomware attack on the PhilHealth’s systems, which encrypts files and demands payment in exchange for the data.
“There is a need to assess the current capacity of the government to secure critical strategic infrastructure from cyberattacks and other potential threats,” Ms. Hontiveros said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez