How does the Commission on Elections expect us to be confident that it can protect the integrity of our votes when it cannot even protect its website from hackers?
According to a global security company, the hacking incident last month has compromised information from 1.3-million passports and 15.8-million fingerprints.
Astoundingly, the Comelec has played down the hacking, with Chairman Andres Bautista saying that no confidential information had been compromised and that there would be no effect whatsoever in the preparations for the coming polls.
But how will this not affect the preparations when doubts have been cast on the very premise of the exercise—that the poll body would be able to count our votes correctly so that the results would yield nothing but the will of the people?
The Comelec’s website was defaced and information on voters and candidates was leaked online. Trend Micro said this “may turn out to be the biggest government-related data breach in history.” The IT firm added that the attack leaves 55-million voters at risk.
“In previous cases of data breach, stolen data has been used to access bank accounts, gather further information about specific persons, used as leverage for… phishing emails… blackmail or extortion, and much more.”
In response, the Comelec spokesman said it would consult with its own IT department given the technical nature of the statement.
This is, we hasten to add, just the Comelec website. The stakes are higher for the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines that will be used in the elections next month. Their “technical nature” has also made it impossible for the poll body to explain to the people how they would work, what the vulnerabilities are and how the risks could be eliminated.
Ultimately, this is a concern far bigger and more fundamental than assessing candidates’ fitness for the job they seek and deciding whom to vote for. The Comelec needs to do a better job at convincing us it knows what it faces and can live up to its mandate of safeguarding our will.