BAGUIO CITY – The Management Information Technology Division of the City Mayor's Office reported that more than three million hackers attempted to infiltrate the city government's data system in 2023.
According to MITD head Francisco Camarao, the city's database was successfully protected by its firewall but as attacks occur every day and become more sophisticated, cybersecurity measures need to be strengthened to ensure the protection of data from various transactions in the city government.
Camarao said aside from the loss of data that leads to the intrusion of people's privacy and legal issues for the government, the cybersecurity breach also results in data exposure that causes unauthorized access to citizens' data, identity theft, and erosion of public trust in government.
It also leads to financial losses, operational disruptions, and legal problems, he added.
Camarao said among proposed solutions are the establishment of an offsite backup system, continuous training and improvement in cybersecurity, and the approval and implementation of the proposed P40-million disaster recovery system to enhance system resilience, reduce weakness, strengthen overall operational efficiency, and boost performance.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong confirmed the weakness of the city's system based on the results of the assessment conducted on the city's system by a third party.
He said the failure to protect the database will mean the loss of data which if translated in financial terms is worth millions of pesos. It will also be a major blow to the city's efforts to thoroughly build its data base to speed up the delivery of services.
"Securing data is a huge challenge. We have seen government offices and local government units here and abroad with more sophisticated systems fall helplessly to these hackers. We may be next so it is necessary let's be prompt," said Magalong.