Hospitals urged to employ emergency backup system

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is urging hospitals and healthcare facilities to step up their cybersecurity measures amid the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic.

The DICT’s Cybersecurity Bureau said hospitals and healthcare facilities nationwide are encouraged to employ emergency backup systems to ensure operational continuity for both databases and infrastructure in case of outages caused by malware or cyberattacks.  

According to the agency, cyberattacks are happening amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with reports of ransomware attacks that target hospitals and healthcare facilities globally.

The DICT cited as an example a Czech hospital, also serving as a COVID-19 test facility, wherein a cyber attack forced a tech shutdown in the midst of the outbreak, compromising life-sustaining medical equipment.

The agency last week already urged the public to remain vigilant as cybercriminals could take advantage of the present COVID-19 situation in the country.

It said internet users should be wary of unverified and unproven COVID-19 websites or applications that require them to give personal data as these might be used by online scammers or might contain viruses, malware, ransomware and other cyber threat intrusions.

“The country is facing the COVID-19 pandemic, and amidst all the commotion, cybercriminals may take advantage of the people’s need for updates and guidance on what to do during these times,” the DICT said.

Meanwhile, the DICT is also warning the public against a post entitled “P20,000 Para sa Lahat ng SSS Pangtawid” which has been circulating on Facebook since March 18.

The DICT said clicking the post directs the user to RANDOMNAMES.CLUB, which is a phishing site, and proceeds to repost the same link on the user’s Facebook wall.