'Weak passwords cause hacking'
AFTER several hacking and data leaks of government websites, stricter cybersecurity measures are needed, an expert said Wednesday.
In a video interview with The Manila Times, Data Ethics PH founder Dominic Ligot cited malware, weak passwords and backdoors for hackers as the reasons why government websites wound up getting hacked.
«Every time you have a leak, there's always a risk that other platforms and accounts could be compromised,» Ligot said.
«I think any time you have a government website or portal that is exposed to the internet, they should start checking if these portals are actually vulnerable,» he added.
He urged the government to have cybersecurity training for its agencies, pointing out the need for experts in the field.
«In any organization, there should be a first responder,» Ligot said.
He added that some of the portals in government agencies are old, among them the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.'s (PhilHealth) antivirus licenses being expired.
He had also called on the government to have legal and procedural enforcement in its cybersecurity measures, with the Data Privacy and the Cybercrime Prevention Laws being in effect and are «useful after the fact.»
In addition, data ethics is also needed, citing government downplaying of the cybersecurity threats.
«Part of the leaks could be passwords and logins by the users of the platforms themselves, so that is personally identifiable information (PII); we all need to be familiar with that term because that's our life,» Ligot said. «If our PII gets leaked, it's like donating your digital persona to someone else.»
The expert also said that «firewalling identities» is recommended.
«Because of SIM card registration, most of us have been forced to centralize our identities to one number and one email, but that's proving to be very risky,» Ligot admitted. «For example, if your email and number are in the PhilHealth leak, and that's the same email and number you use for everything else, then your entire life is now at risk. If you can't trust the government with your identity, then you have to find ways to minimize the damage.»
Government websites became targets of hackers after the PhilHealth database was held by
