The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on Wednesday said it does not see any cybersecurity threats ahead of anti-corruption protests on November 30.
The agency made the assurance after DICT Secretary Henry Aguda previously linked hacktivist Anonymous Philippines to the masked demonstrators who caused chaos during the September 21 rally in Manila.
‘Now, if you want to know what we are seeing in the chatter now so far, it’s quiet. I think our effort to reach out to Anonymous.PH worked. Anonymous.PH said, ‘They are disavowing any violence, aren’t they?’ and then their companions also say they don’t want violence. So far, he’s quiet,’ he said at a Palace briefing.
‘It might change but so far, it’s going well, we’re quiet in cyberspace,’ he said when asked if they are monitoring any threat online.
He added that government agencies are on alert for any possible defacement of websites during the upcoming rally.
‘These government agencies are constantly cyber drilling now – they are drilling and drilling. And they’ve started plugging all the cybersecurity hauls that they have; if they need to patch something, they’ve already patched it; if they need equipment, they’re already deploying it,’ he said.
Aguda also said, ‘The second part, the community, because I talk to them regularly and they promised me, so they signed the commitment wall, if you backtrack a month ago, there is a commitment wall there, disavowing violence, and secon,d they will help the country in case of cyber-attacks.’