Nat’l cybersecurity plan OK’d

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved a comprehensive five-year National Cybersecurity Plan designed to safeguard the nation against the ever-evolving digital age threats, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, or DICT, said.

In a Palace Briefing on Thursday, DICT Secretary Ivan Uy said the President accepted the plan to strengthen the country’s cybersecurity systems by creating policy direction and operational guidelines.

“We presented the national cybersecurity plan to the President. This was, you know, more than a year in the making, and it’s actually a very comprehensive plan covering the years 2024 to 2028,” Uy said.

He added: “The national cybersecurity plan is a document that provides direction, policy direction, as well as operational guidelines on how to build up our cybersecurity posture vis-à-vis the rest of the world.”

Along with an “advance threat assessment,” Uy said the plan would receive information from other countries to help the Philippines better prepare for future cyber attacks.

He said this would be helpful if there was a cyber attack on a bank in another country because the computer emergency reaction teams could find out how the attack happened.

“So our banks would be advised ahead of time and could prepare for it. Because whatever vulnerability was exploited in that attack would most likely be the same vulnerability that cybercriminals will use to penetrate other banks or financial institutions,” he said.

Phl-China cooperation

Meanwhile, Uy said the Philippines and China have expressed openness to cooperating in investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators of a recent hacking attempt believed to have emanated from China.

In the Palace briefing, Uy said the Philippines and China are open to cooperating on cybercrime investigations.

“They have reached out to ask if we can cooperate. Cooperation has to come as a mutual activity, and they are willing to help,” Uy said.

Over the past weekend, the DICT said there were attempts to hack the websites of OWWA, the Philippine Coast Guard, and President Marcos’ official website. The agency successfully thwarted the attack and traced the internet protocol address to a location in China.

However, this claim was subsequently refuted by the Chinese Embassy in Manila, which criticized “some Filipino officials and the media” for disseminating what they labeled as “baseless accusations.”

Uy highlighted cybercrime’s interconnection, saying both countries have victims to protect.

He cited a recent raid in Pasay City where 600 individuals, including 200 Chinese nationals, were arrested for targeting Mandarin-speaking countries with scams.

“China wants to properly prosecute those attacking its citizens,” Uy said, emphasizing the potential for the deportation of criminals. He also cited the PhilHealth ransomware attack, which utilized Russia-based Medusa ransomware, as an example of the global nature of cybercrime.

“Coordination among different countries is important,” Uy said, advocating for international collaboration to combat cyber threats.

On SCS issue

Uy said the recent data breach affecting Philippine government agencies has sparked concerns about a potential link to the ongoing South China Sea dispute.

He, however, warned against drawing immediate conclusions about the motive or the perpetrators, saying that it’s too early to connect the breach to the territorial conflict definitively.

“Well, that’s not for us to come out with that conclusion yet. It’s too early, but anything is possible,” he said.