Comelec restores website with ‘stronger’ security features

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday announced that its website is now restored and with stronger security features.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the poll body’s website went back up on Tuesday evening and assured the public that it is a “safer” website due to a stronger firewall, among others.

“The website is a lot safer now, why? There are two reasons. One, the reason it took so long (to restore) it was because it went to several rounds of code audit to make sure that the security is strong. Second, if I’m not mistaken, mayroon tayong mga bagong dinagdag na features diyan: stronger firewall, web application firewall for instance and stronger kinds of SSL. Basically those are security features,” Jimenez told reporters in a press briefing.

Jimenez explained that the new website now has limited functionalities making it hard for hackers to penetrate the website.

“The other thing that you are noticing is that this is very limited functionality. A lot of this is HTML which means that wala masyadong entry point for vulnerability… When you talk about network security, you’re talking about the attack surface area. Kung marami kang iba’t-ibang functions dinadamihan mo yung attack surface area mo kasi maraming pwedeng tuhuging depensa. Whereas, kung sinimplify mo yan you’re decreasing the number of attack surfaces which makes it easier to protect and making it difficult to penetrate,” Jimenez said.

The poll body’s spokesman said the current website’s functionalities include the list of voters, deactivated status, downloadable resolutions as well as the newly-input templates for ballots. He said the templates for ballots are important as it is unique and specific to every city or municipality.

According to Jimenez, the Comelec reviewed its website along with other agencies such as the Department of Science and Technology, which he said he is thankful for.

He said they are continuously developing the website to make its security features better.

“In the meantime, we are still continuing our work in improving (the) website especially improving the security of the website,” Jimenez said.

The Comelec website was defaced last March 27 and the hackers leaked the details of registered voters.