House Deputy Majority Floor Leader and ACT-CIS Cong. Erwin Tulfo sees the need for the establishment of a National Cyber Security Office amid the “hacking” incidents in government agencies.
These past weeks reported hacking incidents in the system of government agencies somehow alarmed the public. The state-run insurance company Philhealth received a threat from a ransomware group.
This threat in the system of the government did not stop there. It was followed by a hacking incident in the Philippine Statistics Authority’s system.
With this, Tulfo urged the government to establish a National Cyber Security Office, based on the report from Inquirer.
“Nakita natin na kung gaano ka vulnerable at helpless ang mga ahensya natin sa pag-atake ng mga hacker sa mga websites o mga computer files ng mga government agencies natin,” he said.
Tulfo added that even though the problem is being resolved days after the incident, it is still better to prevent this kind of problem from happening. He also cited that there are a lot of countries that established this kind of cyber protection for their systems.
“Surveillance and intelligence gathering, monitoring at quick damage control and retrieval of lost or stolen data or files ang magiging pangunahing trabaho ng naturang ahensya [will be its primary function of the agency],” he said.
I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Tulfo as it is indeed better to take preventive measures rather than wait for the problem to occur and cram to find ways to solve it.
Apparently, the systems of government agencies need repairing or changing to a better one. I believe that there are capable people in the Philippine government to protect cyberspace and prevent future hacking from happening.
It is just that it appeared that this is the least priority now of the government. What could be the problem? Budget? Is this not part of the country’s security and safety as well?
One of the uses of confidential funds is the “Purchase of information necessary for the formulation and implementation of program, activities and projects relevant to national security and peace and order.”
For “security and peace and order.” Hacking is a cyber attack. Although people cannot be harmed physically directly, this can still impose danger on their identities and well-being. With this, the millions of pesos for CF could be used prudently, if it will be allotted to this kind of project for the protection of cyber space.