Safeguarding our digital future: Yamsuan urges passage of Cybersecurity Act

Parañaque 2nd District Representative Brian Yamsuan has pressed the Congress to swiftly pass a measure that aims to safeguard the country’s critical information infrastructure networks and strengthen its defenses against cyber threats.

Yamsuan issued the call following last week’s statement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which warned about the increasing risks faced by the global financial system from cyber attacks using rapidly advancing artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

He also cited the latest reported breach of Canvas, a global Learning Management System (LMS) that is also widely used by local educational institutions, including the country’s top universities. The incident could expose the confidential records and information of students to phishing and other digital threats.

“As cyber attacks grow more sophisticated by the day, our country not only needs to catch up, but should be steps ahead in effectively countering these risks. Cyber attacks involve not only ransomware or stealing data for phishing or other social engineering schemes, they also involve risks to our national security and public safety,” Yamsuan said.

The lawmaker pointed out that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had reported that it has been addressing “persistent cyber attacks” linked to the country’s dispute with China involving the West Philippine Sea.

“Hindi po mga maliliit na insidente lamang ang pinag-uusapan dito. Pati po ang mga impormasyon patungkol sa kritikal na serbisyo at programa ng gobyerno ay nanganganib na ma-hack (We are not just talking about small-scale incidents. Even information about critical services and programs of the government are in danger of being hacked),” Yamsuan said.

“Last year, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) reported that in the brief period between September 21 to 22, about 1.4 million attempts to hack government websites were detected. This is alarming because 19 of these websites were breached, including the website of the DICT which is tasked to develop the government’s cybersecurity protocols,” he added.

Yamsuan’s proposed Cybersecurity Act under House Bill (HB) 7359 was among 26 measures consolidated into a substitute bill by the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology chaired by Camarines Sur 5th District Rep. Migz Villafuerte.

The substitute bill or the proposed Cybersecurity and Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Act, finetuned after six Technical Working Group (TWG) meetings, was approved by the Committee last May 6. It still needs to undergo the scrutiny of the House Committee on Appropriations to finalize the funding provisions of the measure.

Yamsuan commended Villafuerte for leading efforts to ensure that the substitute bill aligns with industry proposals to implement a whole-of-nation approach to cybersecurity and create a National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA).

The substitute bill also included Yamsuan’s proposal under HB 7359 to establish a unified national cybersecurity network that would enable the government to proactively prevent and roll out a coordinated digital defense strategy to be implemented across all public sector institutions.

This would ensure that regardless of an agency’s existing expertise or level of capability, all government institutions are subject to the same standards of precaution and equally equipped to respond to cybersecurity emergencies, Yamsuan said.

The proposed Cybersecurity Act is among the priority measures of the Marcos administration.

Cybersecurity advocates have long been urging the Congress to pass a law that would fortify the country’s highly vulnerable critical digital infrastructure network.

At the recent 48th Asean Summit in Cebu, Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro urged Southeast Asia’s leaders to strengthen regional coordination against cybersecurity threats, including the use of AI for criminal activities. ###

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