DICT CHECKING REPORTED HACKING OF DFA

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), which was recently victimized by a system breach, is verifying a reported cyberattack launched against the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Assistant Secretary Renato Paraiso of the DICT, in an interview with the Inquirer on Wednesday, said they were monitoring the situation for now to confirm the cybersecurity incident. He added that they were also ready to provide assistance to the DFA.

READ: DICT unit website hacked; exec downplays incident

Cybersecurity group Deep Web Konek earlier reported that a threat actor, identifying as “chengyi,” allegedly stole sensitive email data now being sold online.

“[Initial] findings found out that the sample provided contains sensitive documents and is marked as confidential documents,” it said.

This report just came a day after the DICT’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management Division website was defaced by a hacker group.

The DICT was able to regain control in less than an hour, but some employee data were exfiltrated during the attack as well. —Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

2024-07-03T21:25:19Z dg43tfdfdgfd