THE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) yesterday assured the public that no “current information” or government data has been compromised, following reports of Chinese state-sponsored hackers targeting the country’s executive branch and stealing some military documents including those related to the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea dispute.
Information Secretary Ivan John Uy, in a briefing in Malacañang, said the country’s data system is actually constantly under attack from different sectors, hackers, and scammers and he expects online attacks to increase as the midterm election nears.
“So far, what we have seen is that no current information has been compromised,” Uy said.
He said there are those claiming to have successfully hacked some government or private websites, only to show the information they have is old.
“What we have seen so far are old data from many years ago that are being regurgitated, recycled just to make an impression that they were successful in doing so,” he said.
Uy said the DICT has detected a significant increase in attempts to attack websites, either by defacing or introducing malicious software “especially as we come closer to the elections this coming May,” as well as “more fake information or disinformation” that are perpetrated on social media.
“We are repelling several hundred thousand attempts on a daily basis, and this cuts across not just the executive branch but it includes also for instance, the legislative branch, sometimes the websites of some candidates,” he said in mixed English and Filipino.
He said so far, they have been able to secure the systems and no sensitive data has been compromised.
Uy urged the public anew to just be more discerning and not to believe claims of successful hacking unless actual proof is shown.
Reports said Chinese-state sponsored hackers had infiltrated the Office of the President and stolen sensitive military data in 2023 and 2024.
The attack was reportedly part of a campaign to compromise multiple Philippine institutions including hospitals.
