DICT announced 2TB of data from DOST affected in cyberattack

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) announced that 2TB of data was affected in a cyberattack on the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

DICT spokesperson Aboy Paraiso told ABS-CBN News that they are working with DOST to recover the lost data.

As of yesterday, the DICT were still running assessments in what way was the data affected. However, Paraiso expressed concern about whether research and personal information from the agency’s employees were compromised.

This breach was also reported earlier by cyber advocate group Deep Web Konek, claiming that the breach is larger than expected (25TB of data).

The group also mentioned a notorious threat actor named ‘ph1ns’ that gained access to DOST’s critical network components. These are inclusive of Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices, routers, and even vandalizing the site.

The threat actor’s means to send a message was targeted against political dynasties and Charter Change. This individual also used the hashtag #opEDSA as part of their operations.

Data Ethics Founder and Director Dominic Ligot speculates that this individual might be a ‘hacktivist’. Ligot also believes that the 2TB of data was affected in the cyberattack could have been done by Filipinos.

We’ll update readers of any further developments in this story. But if any readers are curious, we also wrote an article on the State of Cybercrime in the Philippines for a bit of insight into the current threat landscape we all face.