MANILA — The Department of Information and Communications and Technology (DICT) prevented the hacking attempt on several government websites including the website of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
According to DICT Undersecretary for Cybersecurity Jeff Ian Dy, they prevented the collapse of the OWWA website and traced the IP address of the attackers from China Unicom, or China United Network Communications Group which is a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company, so they plan to contact it.
He said the DICT has also established a command and control center for cyberattackers operating from within China.
Dy immediately clarified that the Chinese government may not be directly involved in the cyberattack and all they can say is that the operation came from within Chinese territory.
It is said that it is possible that the group spied on the email address and website of some government agencies after obtaining the information of its administrators. Hackers are said to be targeting those with the “gov.ph” domain.
Among those that may have been spied on are the email address of the Philippine Coast Guard, DICT, DOJ, and the website of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
The DICT said it is possible that three groups attacked including Lonelyisland, Meander and Panda which are believed to be advanced threat groups operating in China territory.
As of now, the DICT is still investigating who is behind it and the motive behind the attack.
The DICT assured that no valuable information was obtained from the government because these attacks were prevented.
Last year, several websites of PhilHealth, Philippine Statistics Authority, PNP and Department of Science and Technology were also attacked.
According to Sen. Grace Poe, although the DICT prevented the latest attempt to hack a government website, it is a reminder that cyber attacks are becoming more daring.
Poe said this should serve as a warning to other government agencies and strengthen their website firewalls and systems.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said that we should always be on the lookout for cyber attackers not only from China but from other countries.
