The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said yesterday that current data was not affected amid reports that hackers from China had infiltrated the Philippines' executive branch and stolen sensitive information.
According to DICT Secretary Ivan Uy, every day they prevent "several hundred thousand" attacks targeting not only the executive branch but also the legislature.
“There are always attempts to do this and in many cases, we are able to detect attacks like this in advance. And when we do this, we ensure that the database and the systems are safe, so it remains only an attempt and does not become successful in compromising more sensitive data,” said Uy in a press briefing in Malacañang yesterday.
“I want to reiterate that right now, as far as we can see, no current information has been compromised. What we see is old data from many years ago being regurgitated or recycled to make it look like they succeeded,” he added.
Bloomberg earlier reported that Chinese state-backed hackers broke into the Philippines' executive branch and stole "sensitive" data as part of a year-long campaign. According to Bloomberg, among the stolen information was military data, mostly from early 2023 to June 2024.
Uy said other countries are also experiencing attacks or reports of attacks from various states or non-state groups, as well as reports of data breaches.
He called on the public to be critical in receiving reports that government agencies have been hacked. "That's why we challenge them, 'OK, show them, what did you get?' And either they don't show anything because they really didn't get anything, or if they did show something, we'll see that it's old and not important anymore. This is how we help different sectors," said the DICT chief.
“If there are reports of successful data retrieval, just show them, and we'll see if these claims are true or not.”
Hackers continue to destroy
Jeffrey Ian Dy, ICT undersecretary for infostructure management, cybersecurity, and upskilling, mentioned that advanced persistent threats (APTs) are always there, especially from offshore hackers, and the government is constantly monitoring and blocking.
“It continues. Continuous and non-stop," Dy said in an interview with The STAR.
Another DICT official stated that the report about the theft of military data from various government systems in recent years is not true.
In an interview with "Storycon" by One News, Assistant Secretary Aboy Paraiso said that the data referred to in the Bloomberg report is from previous administrations.
"Since January of last year, we have announced ongoing threats against government systems, including military websites," he said in a mix of English and Filipino. "But this report from Bloomberg shows no evidence of a new successful hack."
Military protection
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has neither confirmed nor denied reports that the Office of the President has been the victim of cyberattacks.
“Cyberattacks are common every day. The important thing is that they are detected and prevented. That's why we have intrusion detection systems and intrusion prevention systems," said AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla.
"Cybersecurity is everyone's responsibility, not just the AFP," he added.
