PCG: No strong evidence cyberattacks linked to intensified WPS efforts

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Wednesday said there is no strong evidence to conclude that the cyber attacks against the agency are connected with its intensified efforts in the West Philippines Sea (WPS).

“Wala po tayong matibay na ebidensya para magkaroon ng ganiyang conclusion,” PCG spokesperson Rear Admiral Armand Balilo said in a Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon interview.

(We have no strong evidence for that conclusion.)

“Maganda po na hintayin natin iyong investigation na ginagawa and hopefully ma-pinpoint natin kung sino talaga ang gumagawa nito sa PCG,” he added.

(It is better that we wait for the investigation that is being done and hopefully we can pinpoint who is really behind this cyber attack against the PCG.)

Facebook page

On Monday night, the PCG’s Facebook page started to post malicious videos after an "unknown entity" gained access to the account, according to the agency.

The PCG Facebook page has yet to be recovered as of posting time.

According to the PCG, police authorities are looking into a possible online security breach through malware in the hacking incident.

Before this, the PCG also monitored hacking attempts on its website and experienced a problem on its account on X (formerly Twitter), which has already been resolved.

The Philippine Navy on Tuesday said it has monitored an increase in cyber and electronic interference targeting their communication capabilities over the WPS as well their land-based communication equipment.

Philippine Navy spokesperson for WPS Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad noted that these interference usually happened during the cooperation stages for rotation and resupply missions to the WPS.

However, the Navy cannot determine the source of the interference. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News