A SENATOR on Tuesday said the proposed confidential funds of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has been converted as line items in the budget amounting to P280 million to support the agency’s cybersecurity mandates.
Senator Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares, who sponsored the DICT’s budget, said the agency initially requested P300 million in confidential funds, but these were reallocated as line items in the budget.
“The committee was able to find a way so that we will still be able to supply the needs of the DICT for them to be able to do their functions properly,” Ms. Poe-Llamanzares told the plenary. “But now it is a line item budget so that it’s easier for us to be able to monitor how it’s implemented.”
The P280-million funding would include P72.3 million for the network detection and response or NDRs, according to Ms. Poe-Llamanzares. “These are devices that are plugged into the systems of other government agencies that would enable NCERT (national computer emergency response team) to monitor their system.”
The budget also includes P48.2 million for the security of operations software. “This is a renewal of the software needed to run the NSOC (national security operations center)” which monitors the system of other government agencies, Ms. Poe-Llamanzares said.
She added that P79.7 million is allocated for advanced anti-virus systems and P19.8 million for 24/7 staff who will monitor the NSOC.
The budget also includes P20 million for vulnerability assessment and penetration testing tools which consist of an application analysis, website analysis, and mobile application analysis. The Mobile Security Operation Center consisting of portable hardware and software is allocated P40 million.
Ms. Poe-Llamanzares said the remaining P20 million initially requested by the DICT has been scrapped from the budget.
The DICT and its attached agencies seek a P9.95-billion budget for next year. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
