AFP setting up cybersecurity 'war room' –report

In the face of recent threats from hackers and cybercriminals, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is setting up a cybersecurity war room to ensure its intelligence, surveillance and communications data are secure.

 

AFP spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said they are planning the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (C4ISTAR), radio dzBB's Tuesday Niu reported.

 

Burgos was quoted in the report as saying the project aims to ensure communications to and from the AFP are secure and protected from hackers.

 

The report also said the AFP wants the new facility to focus on protecting secured data from cyberattacks.

 

Earlier this year, several government websites were attacked by hacker groups protesting the Anti-Cybercrime Act of 2012.

 

While some sites were defaced, others were subjected to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

 

However, the hacks stopped after some of the sites being attacked turned out to be providing critical information to the public.

 

The attacks eventually stopped altogether after the Supreme Court issued a 120-day temporary restraining order against the anti-cybercrime law last October. — TJD, GMA News