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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider DICT to ask Senate to reconsider removal of confidential funds

DICT to ask Senate to reconsider removal of confidential funds

Published Oct 11, 2023 07:21 am

At A Glance

  • Uy emphasized that the decision is "actually announcing to the world that we are not interested in protecting our cyber borders."
  • To support his argument, the DICT chief cited the recent ransomware attack incident on the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
  • The country's cybersecurity, suggesting that if allocated from a regular budget, they could potentially reveal the country's security level to cybercriminals.

Following its inclusion as one of the organizations facing the removal of confidential funds in the 2024 budget, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said on Wednesday, Oct. 11, that the agency is planning on making an appeal for reconsideration.

dict logo.jpg
Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT)

"Yes, definitely it is going to be an appeal on our part because it sends a very wrong signal to the rest of the world, while cyber threats and cyber criminals are increasing and they are becoming more sophisticated, and they have more funds, actually to do so," DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy said in an ANC interview.

Uy emphasized that the decision is "actually announcing to the world that we are not interested in protecting our cyber borders."

"That with all these cyber threats—you know, we're allocating it to agencies that are guarding the West Philippine Sea, that is just one portion of our physical borders," he said.

"But what about our cyber borders?" he questioned.

To support his argument, the DICT chief cited the recent ransomware attack incident on the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on Sept. 22, which exposed the employees' sensitive personal data.

READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2023/9/22/phil-health-paralyzed-by-medusa-ransomware-attack

"You already saw how our PhilHealth was attacked, and there will be more of these in the coming days, coming weeks, and coming years," Uy said.

"And that does not alarm anybody? That we are under cyber-attacks, and we are not interested in protecting or securing any of our cyber assets," he emphasized.

He also cited potential cyber threats, including the possible economic consequences of a complete shutdown of the financial and banking system.

"What if it gets shut down for a week or a month, and we cannot restore it? What about our energy grid? Our telecommunications, what about our transportation? You saw when the airport shut down for one day? What chaos it created?"  Uy said.

"There will be more of those that will happen because we have no cyber security budget to prevent them from happening," he added.

The country's ICT department is one of the five government agencies that may lose its confidential funds in the 2024 budget.

Apart from the DICT, the Office of the Vice President (OVP), the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Agriculture (DA), and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will not receive any confidential funds in 2024.

READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2023/10/10/5-agencies-stripped-of-confidential-funds-in-2024-budget-find-out-here

Uy emphasized the importance of confidential funds in the country's cybersecurity, suggesting that if allocated from a regular budget, they could potentially reveal the country's security level to cybercriminals.

"If you do that, what will happen is you need to publish your terms and reference in a newspaper of a general circulation informing all the cyber criminals how thick the safe that you're going to use, what kind of CCTV (closed-circuit television) and alarm system that you are going to purchase in order to protect your bank, where the locks are, what kind of locks you're buying, what are the features of those locks," Uy pointed out.

"So, you think that will be a practical way of acquiring these security devices so that thieves will know exactly what kind of locks that you use, what kind of security system that you put in place, what kind of sensors that you'll put, what kind of safe you'll purchase," he said.

Related Tags

Department of Information and Communications Technology
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