The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has activated its cybersecurity response protocols since Wednesday to monitor a possible distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) cyberattack that could slow down or disrupt government and financial websites.
DICT Secretary Henry Aguda urged the public to remain vigilant, use official applications or status pages for updates, and avoid engaging in illegal online activities.
‘It is better to be safe than sorry,’ Aguda said in an emailed statement, citing the importance of precautionary measures.
This type of cyberattack utilizes numerous compromised devices to swamp a server or network with traffic, causing service delays or outages.
Aguda explained that the threat appears ‘global’ in scale and noted that DICT personnel were coordinating with partner agencies to mitigate potential impacts.
The DICT emphasized, however, that DDoS attacks do not result in data breaches and that no personal information, accounts, or money are at risk.