PH hospitals strengthen cybersecurity during COVID-19

Amid the ongoing global pandemic, Philippine hospitals engaged in COVID-19 response now also face cybersecurity threats with cyber criminals exploiting the pandemic to contrive their cyberattacks and take advantage of vulnerable systems during this time. The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) recently raised alerts on cybersecurity threats, specific to targeting hospitals. In a COVID-19 Czech Republic hospital which is a testing center for COVID 19, for instance, a cyberattack forced the facility to shut down their systems, causing delayed surgeries and forcing them to move some patients to other hospitals. To prevent disruption in local hospitals, the Cybersecurity Bureau of the DICT then urged hospitals and healthcare facilities nationwide to employ emergency backup systems for operational continuity for both databases and infrastructure in case of out...