As a significant step in enhancing its cybersecurity, the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) eyes the establishment of a dedicated cybersecurity task force.
PhilHealth Acting Vice President of Corporate Affairs Group Rey Baleña, during a televised interview on Oct. 11, said this task force is envisioned as a crucial measure to prevent future incidents and swiftly respond to any emerging threats.
"Ito ang ilan sa ginagawa ng PhilHealth upang mapatibay ang agency's cyber facility infrastructure at kamakailan ay nanawagan ang PhilHealth para sa pagcreate ng isang inter-agency taskforce sapagkat hindi lang ito maaaring mangyari sa PhilHealth, maaari din itong mangyari sa ibang ahensya (These are some of the things that PhilHealth is doing to strengthen the agency's cyber facility infrastructure, and recently, PhilHealth called for the creation of an inter-agency task force because this could not only happen to PhilHealth but to other agencies as well),” Baleña said.
He also emphasized that PhilHealth aims to establish a collaborative approach to cybersecurity that fortifies the government's defenses against cyber threats.
Meanwhile, PhilHealth also discussed its collaboration with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to reinforce its cybersecurity infrastructure as a pivotal step in this effort.
One pressing question revolves around the possibility of recovering the data that fell into the hands of hackers.
"Unfortunately, ako sa pagkaka-alam ko ay hindi na po natin ito mababawi. Ang atin na lang gagawin ay moving forward, ay hindi na po ito mangyari sa pamamaraan na masiguro na mayroon tayong sufficient na anti-virus software (Unfortunately, as far as I know, we can no longer recover from this. Our only option now is to move forward, ensuring that we have sufficient anti-virus software in place to prevent this from happening again),” Baleña said.
PhilHealth, in an earlier statement, said the antivirus software is already “installed and operational,” underscoring the organization's commitment to fortifying its digital defenses.
"Bukod sa isang buwan na tumatakbo na lisensya, idudugtong na ‘yung ating na-procure this week. Makakaasa ang ating mga miyembro at mga partners na ito po ay hindi na mangyayari (Aside from the one-month running license, the one we procured this week will be added. Our members and partners can rest assured that this will no longer happen)," he said. (Zekinah Elize Espina)