Senator Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to consider cybersecurity as a national security concern in the absence of a law.
He emphasized the need for urgency in addressing cybersecurity to prevent cyber-attacks, especially as the world becomes more interconnected.
“My suggestion is to think of cybersecurity as a national security concern in the absence of a law. There should be a sense of urgency because the more that the world is connected, the more that we are prone to cyberattacks. We should be wary of this type of vulnerability in our country,” Gatchalian told DICT officials at a recent Senate hearing on the agency’s proposed 2025 budget.
The senator stated that the government needs to ensure the cybersecurity capability of critical infrastructure such as the country’s electric transmission lines, certain airports, and water distribution, among others, are properly audited.
“Because these infrastructures are privately managed, the government does not have the power to audit their capability in so far as cybersecurity is concerned. Nakakatakot ‘yun,” he said.
In the case of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), for instance, there has been a running conversation relating to vulnerability to cyber-attacks of the country’s transmission backbone, he said.
Gatchalian emphasized the government needs to ensure that critical information infrastructures are sufficiently protected in terms of cybersecurity.
“For as long as we don’t have a cybersecurity audit in place, the country may be vulnerable and we cannot assure our people that the government is doing its share in protecting critical infrastructure, especially in times of geo-political uncertainties. We need to assure the public that we are on top of the situation,” he said.
It can be recalled that Gatchalian filed the Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 2022 to establish a more secure cyberspace and a data protection regime compliant with international standards and ensure the free flow of information.
