NICA Exec: China-affiliated hacking groups “targeting” Philippines

National

THE National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) revealed that the Philippines is being targeted by China-backed hacking groups.

NICA Deputy Director General Ashley Acedillo, appearing in a Senate hearing about the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) on Tuesday, November 26, said that these hacking groups which are called “Chinese Advanced Persistent Threat” (APT) are “operating” and “targeting the country, including the government.

Acedillo answered Sen. Risa Hontiveros’ question if the Philippines is a victim of espionage and hacking groups in China.

“With the information that we have, we can confirm that indeed Chinese APT groups are operating or targeting the Philippines, whether government or private sector entities,” Acedillo said, adding that their office has already monitored some of these hacking groups.

According to Acedillo, APT is a cyber-security term that describes “state-backed or state-affiliated advanced and highly sophisticated hacking groups.”

They are called advanced persistent threats because they are different from normal individual hackers or non-sophisticated hackers due to their “ resources, the personnel that they have, and the sophisticated skills that they possess.”.

“So much so that they are believed to be largely state-trained or state-sponsored or state-backed," Acedillo explained to the legislators per an Inquirer report.

He furthered that these hackers seek “to achieve certain asymmetric advantages without using state resources and providing a convenient, deniable link to such groups,”.

In February this year, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT, reported that hackers were able to breach into the email systems and websites of some government agencies.

DICT believed that these hackers were operating in China, but China ignored DICT’s claim which they described as “irresponsible”.

Hontiveros said these threat groups raise concerns in the country.(LAO)