AFP to take part in fight vs cyber-attack, misinformation

THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will join in the government’s fight against cyber-attacks and misinformation, as it created its Cyber Security Group, newly appointed AFP spokesperson Colonel Francel Padilla said.

In an interview with reporters, Padilla said the AFP leadership has tasked the AFP Civil Relations Service and its Cyber Security Group to strengthen operations and monitoring to combat cyber-attacks and misinformation, as well as disinformation.

“Our task is to secure the people and the state, and also to include the cyber domain,” she said.

“The AFP is one of those quite targeted, and it will never stop… We are always fortifying our defenses,” she added.

In the last quarter of 2023, several government agencies, including Philhealth and the House of Representatives, experienced hacking of their websites.

AFP chief of staff General Romeo Brawner said the AFP was not spared as there were several hacking attempts on their system but none of which have been successful.

According to the Department of Justice, cybercrime-related incidents in the country have increased by 400 percent.

Assistant Justice Secretary Jose Dominic Clavo IV said crimes committed online are becoming the majority of the cases being faced by the DOJ, and this “goes to show that we are seeing a trend that crimes in the country will be heading towards cyber-related incidents.” (TPM/SunStar Philippines)