DOF installs cybersecurity defense system
The Department of Finance (DOF) is setting up a comprehensive cybersecurity defense system to protect its units and attached agencies against cyberattacks.
In a statement, the DOF said the agency is now installing a cybersecurity system through an advanced security operations center, which would connect all online security devices of all DOF attached agencies.
This is among the DOF’s initiatives to ensure that its online portals and communication systems are secure against “increasingly sophisticated” cyberattacks.
According to the DOF, the project will also involve upgrading the digital infrastructure (both hardware and software) of the agencies, and the corresponding training needed for the employees to familiarize themselves with the system.
The cybersecurity defense system is expected to be fully operational by 2021.
The DOF said it is working with the Department of Communications to ensure the sustainability of the system.
Aside from this cybersecurity system, the DOF’s technology modernization team has also proposed a comprehensive clean-up of all endpoint devices connected to the DOF network.
Led by Vladimir Dennis Reyes, the DOF’s technology modernization architect, the team has already identified the compromised machines, software and communication lines within the DOF.
The team is also pushing for the establishment of communications and threat analytics sharing protocols with the DICT, and the limitation of the number of channels that hackers can potentially exploit to gain access to online networks.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier asked Undersecretary Gil Beltran to form a council composed of information technology officers from the DOF and its attached agencies.
The finance chief had also cited the need for the DOF to put together a system that interconnects all its units and attached agencies, and protects them against threats of cyber attacks.
“IT is a major tool in this department and I want to make sure that our computers can interface with each other, and that we are secure from cyberattacks. We have to sit down and talk more together about internet security,” he said.
Aside from a cybersecurity defense system, the DOF has also focused on other information technology tools which can help improve the ease of doing business in the country.
Among these initiatives is the establishment of an online platform which seeks to modernize and fasttrack the government’s processing of import and export permits, as part of the anti-red tape measures of the administration.