Binay: Philippines must shape up to fight cyber threats

Saying Internet security is vital to a nation’s economic and political policies, Vice President Jejomar Binay called for a strong Philippine response to cyber threats.

Saying Internet security is vital to a nation’s economic and political policies, Vice President Jejomar Binay called for a strong Philippine response to cyber threats.

While the government presses for a diplomatic solution to its territorial dispute with China, the conflict continues to spill to cyberspace.

The Philippine Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) has called on other state agencies to review their Internet security measures amid recent hacking incidents of government websites by supporters of China’s claim to the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

Chinese hackers targeted Friday night the official newspaper website of the Philippine Star, but the publication’s technical staff denied its site was hacked.
The website of the Department of Budget and Management has remained inaccessible, as of Thursday, as the DBM continued to do security checks following the two hacking attacks on its site last Wednesday, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said.

The government has warned Filipino techies against defacing Chinese websites amid tensions over the disputed Scarborough Shoal off the coast of Zambales, which both Manila and Beijing are claiming as their own.

As Philippine and Chinese vessels remain locked in a standoff over the Scarborough Shoal, a cyber war broke out leaving websites defaced in both Asian countries.

Hackers attacked the official website of the University of the Philippines System, forcing the state university to temporarily bring down the site.