MANILA — An official of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said Wednesday that the cyberattacks against online sites of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) were done by a Chinese Advanced Persistent Threat (APT).
An APT is a type of sophisticated cyberattack that aims to steal sensitive data or cause damage to a target network over a long period of time.
This was revealed by DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian C. Dy during an ambush interview in Malacañang on Wednesday.
APT groups typically have various objectives when they attack a nation. These objectives often align with the strategic needs of the government that sponsors them.
“There are already reports from the US. There are already media reports from other countries. Sinasabi nila that Chinese actors are actively acting on certain government’s online site,” Dy said.
“DICT has been very transparent… because we believe that the only way we can fight… to strengthen our cybersecurity is to increase our visibility on grey zone operations. Kasi grey ito. I mean they are operating in the dark,” Dy said.
“The tactics, techniques and procedures, which mean the behavior of the attacker is very, very similar to APT41 which is a Chinese group,” he added.
“Primarily we revealed this during a meeting (with the different government agencies),” Dy further said.
However, Dy was quick to clarify that this was not done by the Chinese government but a group of Chinese.
“Let me clarify. I never said it’s the Chinese government. I’m just saying it’s a Chinese APT. Magkaiba iyon,” Dy clarified. (PND)
