THE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), which is involved in maritime operations in the contested West Philippine Sea, yesterday said its website is secure amid hacking attempts by groups allegedly based in China.
PCG spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said the agency conducted an investigation after the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) informed the PCG about an attempt to hack the latter’s website.
“DICT personnel inquired last month if we monitored any attempt to hack our website, but so far, we have not monitored anything. Our website remains secure,” he said.
Last Saturday, DICT undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy reported an attempted hacking of the website of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. The attack, he said, was made from an internet protocol address traced to a location in China.
Dy also said they thwarted cyberattacks aimed at the DICT’s email addresses and Google Workspaces, the PCG’s National Coast Watch, and President Marcos Jr’s website, bongbongmarcos.com.
Dy said these attacks were done by the groups Lonely Island, Meander, and Panda which he said are “advanced threat groups” operating within the ambit of Chinese territories.
DICT spokesperson Renato Paraiso said yesterday, “We are not attributing this to any state.
But using the internet protocol addresses, we pinpointed it to China.”
He added the hackers were traced to be using the services of Chinese state-owned Unicom.
“We are appealing to the Chinese government to help us prevent further attacks.”
Unicom and China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The thwarted cyberattacks came at a time of heightened tensions with China, largely over disputed territory in the South China Sea.
The Philippines is currently working on a five-year cybersecurity strategy to beef up its cyber defenses to combat attacks and digital crimes. Its military last year announced it would create a cyber command.
The PCG is supporting the Philippine Navy in the conduct of patrols in the South China Sea which is being claimed in part by the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan.
China is claiming almost the entire South China Sea.
The PCG has been escorting Philippine military resupply missions at Ayungin Shoal, one of the nine features occupied by Filipino troops in the West Philippine Sea which refers to waters within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
PCG commandant Adm. Ronnie Gil Gavan has instructed Balilo to continuously coordinate with the DICT and exercise utmost vigilance.
Balilo said, “We will ensure that the website is secure, that there is enough firewall to prevent it from being infiltrated by hackers.”
“While the website is for public consumption, we do not want hackers polluting our site with fake news and making it appear that we authored the spread of falsehoods. We must also protect the site from computer viruses,” he added.
