Gov't cyber teams must be prepared for possible Nov 5 cyber attack—Marcos
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. holds a post-ASEAN Summit press briefing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Oct. 28, 2025. (Mark Balmores)
All government cyber teams must be vigilant and prepared for the possible Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) cyber attack on Wednesday, Nov. 5, President Marcos said.
"The President directed DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) and all cyber teams in government to be vigilant and prepare for the November 5 possible DDoS attacks," Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a Palace briefing on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
According to the DICT, it has activated "Oplan Cyber Dome" to ensure that all digital services of the government and privately-operated critical information infrastructure such as banks, telcos, and hospitals are also protected and ready to respond to any DDoS attacks.
"The public is assured that the government and the private sectors are working hand-in-hand to ensure all digital services are available and secure,” the DICT said in a statement.
As of Tuesday, Castro said no detailed information about the possible attack has been provided yet.
"At siguro manatili muna ito na hindi muna ipaalam para hindi naman magkaroon ng—iyong kanilang magiging trabaho ay makita na agad ng mga nagnanais na gumambala at sumira ‘no sa maaaring gawin sa ating gobyerno. (And perhaps it’s best to keep it that way for the meantime so that those who intend to disrupt or sabotage the government’s efforts won’t be able to anticipate their actions)," Castro said when asked whether the government has already identified groups who will be launching the web attacks.
The Palace official also said that should online services be disrupted, the public may conduct their transactions with government agencies in person.
On Sunday, the DICT explained that a DDoS or traffic flood is like a traffic jam on the internet, where hackers simultaneously send excessive requests to a website or app, overwhelming it with data and causing it to slow down or fail to load.
According to the Philippine National Police (PNP), police anti-cybercrime agents were tapped to fully activate their cyber defense protocols over the possible cyber attacks.