DICT: Majority of hacking attempts done by Chinese!

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said the majority of the hacking attempts on government websites per year were done by "Chinese actors."

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Thousands of hacking attempts recorded

DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy bared this during a briefing on Wednesday, saying an average of 2,900 hacking attempts are being recorded annually.

Dy said the DICT found that Chinese "advanced persistent threats" (APT) were responsible for these illegal acts, targeting several agencies, like the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Department of Agriculture (DA) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The problem with attributions (of hacking attempts) is that there… is no such thing as 100-percent attribution. There are some candidates but we’re not yet prepared to say (who they are). But you will notice that there are reports from the (United States) and there are media reports from other countries which indicate that it seems that Chinese actors—not necessarily China [but] Chinese actors—are actively hacking certain government online assets, Dy said.

On the government’s capacity to combat these attacks, he said the DICT is "significantly better now."

The official said the DICT already deployed detection mechanisms, and protective systems, and its sharing of information with its allies has been strengthened.

Dy also said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. already approved the proposed USD 288-million Philippine Digital Infrastructure Project.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer