Speaker wants briefing on cyberattacks
SPEAKER Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Monday called for an immediate briefing for the House of Representatives by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on recent cybersecurity breaches experienced by the government.
DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy said at the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City that an attack aimed at taking down the website of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration failed because the department was able to prevent it and that other websites had also been defended.
“I express deep concern regarding the recent cybersecurity breaches in government agencies, as reported by the DICT. The revelation that hackers, suspected to be operating from China, have infiltrated the email systems and internal websites of various government agencies is a matter of national security and public interest,” Romualdez said in a statement.
“The fact that these breaches have targeted critical domains such as cabsec.gov.ph, coastguard.gov.ph, cpbrd.congress. gov.ph, dict.gov.ph, doj.gov.ph, and ncws.gov.ph, in addition to the private domain of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr, signifies a dire need for an immediate and comprehensive response,” he added.
He said the 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.”
“I propose that this briefing be conducted in an open hearing … 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,” Romualdez said.
“Furthermore, this incident reminds us of the urgent need to strengthen our cybersecurity policies and protocols. We must ensure that our national cybersecurity strategies are robust enough to withstand such attacks and agile enough to adapt to the evolving digital landscape,” he said. “The House of Representatives stands ready to support any legislative action necessary to enhance our cybersecurity and protect our nation from such digital threats. We take this matter with utmost seriousness and urgency.”