PhilHealth seeks joint task force to probe cyberattack
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 2) — The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) requested a joint task force composed of members from concerned law enforcement agencies to look into the recent cyberattack that pushed the agency to implement a temporary system shutdown.
The state-run agency's officials said the task force will be made up of members from the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation, the National Privacy Commission, and the Department of Information and Communications Technology.
«This is not merely a concern of PhilHealth, this is a nationwide concern. And for this reason, we requested a joint task force to look into this problem,» PhilHealth Chief Operating Officer Eli Dino Santos said during a briefing on Monday.
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Santos said the group is also set to procure additional cyber and infra security systems to strengthen its protection against possible similar attacks.
Meanwhile, PhilHealth chief Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said the group was «fully prepared» for the cyber-attack and response and aid from concerned agencies were immediate.
«I'm confident on our own…but at the same time, since help is being offered, we are utilizing all the help we can get in resolving this issue. We are doing our very best and using all the options available,» Ledesma said.
PhilHealth earlier resorted to operating manually after the ransomware was detected.
READ: PhilHealth website services 'likely' back to normal soon
As of Monday morning, PhilHealth said its website, member portal, and e-claims submission are back online while some application servers are currently being rebuilt.
'No data from members leaked'
PhilHealth maintained that no data from servers containing the members' private information have been affected by the attack.
«It's very clear na hindi apektado 'yung membership data (that the membership data is not affected), zero. That's the most important thing to look at,» Ledesma said.
READ: No information leaked after cyberattack, PhilHealth says
The agency's technology department said only application servers and employees' work stations were
