Comelec assures safeguards against data hacking

MANILA, Philippines (Philippines News Agency) – In the midst of the voter registration for the forthcoming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls, the Commission on Elections assured the public that safeguards are in place against a repeat of the hacking of its database last March.

Comelec Chairman Juan Andres “Andy” Bautista noted that the commission has made sure that data has been secured from those who would try to hack their systems again.

“We are more secure this time than before against data hacking,” he said.

The poll body chief added that they are coordinating closely with the Department of Science and Technology to make sure that Comelec systems are safe from hackers.

“We have undertaken several steps to secure the database after the hacking,” Bautista said.

He added that they continue to monitor hacking attempts on their system.

“We are constantly monitoring them (hacking attempts) as part of our protocol. We monitor them versus any attempts to penetrate our website,” Bautista said.

Hacker group Anonymous Philippines defaced the Comelec website a month before the May 9 polls.

The incident was followed by the release of the personal information of millions of registered voters that were made searchable online. Among the sebsitive information that was leaked were voters' full names, complete addresses and passport numbers.

On May 4, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the poll body’s website had been restored and assured the public that it is a “safer” website due to a stronger firewall and other safeguards.

On July 15, the poll body started the nationwide voter registration for the village and youth polls, which will be held on Oct. 31.

A total of 1,409,009 applications for voter registration had been filed at the Offices of Election Officers as of July 24.

The deadline for the registration is July 30. — With a report from Philstar.com/Rosette Adel