The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), an attached agency to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), announced on Monday, Feb. 12, that at least six government agencies have received bomb threats.
As per the report, the CICC, in collaboration with the Philippine National Police and the Management Information Systems (MIS) personnel of these agencies, successfully retrieved numerous emails sent to various individuals within their respective agencies.
Meanwhile, it emphasized that "there is no cause for alarm as this sender and email has been tagged as a hoax."
"At about the same time multiple government agencies in Seoul Korea received the same email," CICC said in a statement.
Moreover, the body said that "last year the alleged sender sent the same bomb threat to several government agencies."
CICC said the email was traced to a domain name registered locally in Japan.
Given this, CICC has confirmed that DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy is currently coordinating with the Japanese Embassy. Efforts are underway to request the Japanese government to conduct a thorough investigation and identify the sender.
CICC has yet to release the complete list of the six government agencies that received the bomb threats.
Early this morning, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) confirmed they received bomb threats at their offices.
On DOST's end, Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. emphasized that the threat is now under investigation.
He assured that necessary security measures were in place and the personnel resumed their routines.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2024/2/12/under-investigation-dost-confirms-receiving-bomb-threat
Meanwhile, the CICC advised the affected government agencies to implement emergency evacuation procedures as part of their preparedness and emergency protocols.