AFP probes alleged cyberattacks, says breaches unverified
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is investigating reports of cybersecurity breaches involving military systems but said Tuesday, 10 November, that it has yet to verify the allegations or establish whether sensitive information was compromised.
AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said military cybersecurity units were examining online reports of alleged data leaks and assessing whether further forensic investigations were necessary.
"Well, these reports are stated online. So, we do not normally react to online statements. We verify them. We conduct our internal investigation accordingly," Padilla said during a briefing at Camp Aguinaldo.
She said the AFP Cyber Command and cybersecurity units across the military services were coordinating to determine the credibility of the claims.
Padilla noted that government and military networks regularly face attempted cyberattacks, making continuous monitoring and stronger security measures essential.
"So, on a normal day, talaga pong thousands of attacks are being monitored. But, what is important is we are able to deter these attacks," she said.
Philippine Air Force spokesperson Col. Alvin Jay Capinguian said the Air Force's 950th Cyber Wing was also working with AFP Cyber Command to investigate the alleged leaks, which were first reported online on 5 November.
"We've also done our due diligence, as Col Padilla has mentioned. Although, again, dahil online yung report, nothing verified," Capinguian said.
Padilla maintained that the military has safeguards in place but acknowledged that no computer system is completely immune to cyberattacks.
"As a general statement for cybersecurity, there is no impenetrable system," she said.
The National Privacy Commission earlier said it was aware of the reported incidents but had not received personal data breach notifications from the government agencies concerned.
Padilla said the AFP would provide further updates once its technical units completed their assessments.
"We still have to conduct a proper forensic investigation to determine, really, the veracity of these reports," she said.