City dad moves for urgent action versus cyber attacks

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Council is urging law enforcement agencies and the city’s Management Information and Computer Services (MICS) to provide solutions and plans, as well as propose strategies to counter the threats posed by cyber attacks.

Last Wednesday, City Councilor Edgardo “Jaypee” Labella II, expressed before the city council his worries in the recent cyber attacks in the city. According to him, it compromises security and the right of residents of the city to have their personal information guarded.

“The cyber-attacks serve as a wakeup call for our city to review and upgrade our capability to effectively secure the data of the constituents of the city. In fact, this is not only a local issue but a big national issue,” said Labella.

Citing instances, Labella recalled that last September 22, 2023, the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation experienced a cyber-attack that led to the exposure of some data from the ransomware attack.

The following month, the systems of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Philippine National Police (PNP) were also hacked.

According to Labella, the DOST has confirmed a “data leak incident” involving one expert website, a nationwide registry of Filipino science and technological technology experts. Likewise, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has also suffered from cyber attacks.

As Labella further cited more cyber attacks happening in the country, he also disclosed that the city’s MICS wasn’t accessible for quite some time and despite the blockage of these attempts, some servers were compromised.

“I am deeply concerned that the same thing will happen, not just a cyber-attack on our website, but it will already involve the leaking of not just personal data information, but also confidential information of the Cebu City government,” said Labella.

Labella said that there should be a proactive approach to these concerns, considering that data management infrastructure via assessment provided by MICS is 8 years old and three years overdue for replacement.

“We should support our MICS in acquiring the necessary security systems upgrade to provide solutions providing real-time threat detection, automated patching, and centralized management, and significantly improving our security posture,” said Labella.

In line with this, Labella said that the city council should support the Philippine National Police (PNP) or the Cebu City Police Office in their IT system plans as he highlighted the urgency of the matter.

With this, Labella raised the motion urging MICS to provide solutions and plans, as well as propose strategies to effectively secure the data of the constituents of the city.

Likewise, he also moved to call the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) to provide a plan and repose strategies for its immediate action in addressing the IT information and communication technology requirements.

Labella’s motion was approved by the city council. - /ATO (FREEMAN)