'Hackers target govt websites constantly'

THE Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) has admitted that hackers are constantly trying to get into government websites.

This is the reality in the digital world, CICC Assistant Secretary Mary Rose Magsaysay said, but she assured the public that the government is putting in all efforts to «fail» the hackers.

«Basta kapag government, iyan talaga ang pinipilit giyerahin ng bawat [hacker]. Parang iyan 'yung kanilang final exam na nila» (Government websites are very tempting to hackers. They are challenged to crack into it, and for them, it is their greatest test), Magsaysay said.

«Kapag na-hack nila ang gobyerno, knowing that the government is supposed to be equipped to protect the nation, parang ayan 'yung ano nila graduation» (If they successfully hack into a government website, then they have passed their toughest trial for graduation), she added.

According to the Department of Science and Technology, at least two terabytes of data had been compromised by local hackers in a cyberattack.

Likewise, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) declared that some 30,000 vulnerabilities in 2,002 government digital assets had been detected.

They were found via Project Sonar (Secure Online Network Assessment and Response System): Automated Vulnerability Assessment, which DICT implemented in December 2023 as a response to multiple hacking incidents on government websites.

They said that among the agencies that were subjected to cyberattacks last year were the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., Senate, House of Representatives, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the DoST.

An incident of hacking into the Facebook pages of the Central Visayas offices of the Philippine Statistics Office and the Department of Social Welfare and Development was also noted. Even local government units were not spared.

Magsaysay said that criminals have started taking advantage of artificial intelligence to scan Philippine laws so as to look for loopholes.

If hackers are caught, they already know in advance what legal tactic — they get from AI — to use in court, CICC Highly Technical Consultant Drexx Laggui said in Filipino.