AFP probes alleged data breach on military systems
MANILA — The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said Tuesday it was investigating reports of alleged data breach involving military information systems, with cybersecurity units working to verify claims that personnel records and other documents were compromised.
AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the military was conducting an internal investigation and verifying reports circulating online.
“At this point, these are mere speculations,” Padilla said in a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City. “Our units in-charge of cybersecurity—from our Cyber Command from the AFP down to our cyber units in our respective branches of service—are doing due diligence to check the veracity of these reports.”
Padilla noted that the AFP monitors thousands of cyberattack attempts regularly but stressed that its priority is to prevent these from penetrating military systems.
“Normally, ang AFP is a target of a vector of attacks… 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.
The Philippine Air Force (PAF), meanwhile, said it had checked its systems and elevated the matter to the AFP Cyber Command.
“Ongoing po ‘yung collaboration ng 950th Cyber Wing ng PAF at Cyber Command to verify all these alleged reports,” PAF spokesperson Col. Alvin Jay Capinguian said told reporters.
Citing a dark web forum post, cybersecurity advocacy group Deep Web Konek (DWK) claimed that military data, including confidential and restricted command order documents, logistics records, promotion records, military camp and base information, personnel full names, and unique personnel identification numbers, had been obtained through a cyberattack.
“There is no impenetrable system. What is important is that we have the proper security that is in place,” Padilla said.
“Any report is being acted upon. Of course, any incident also is being studied to the letter and addressed accordingly,” she added.