Institutions Urged to Invest in Bolstering Cyber Defenses

Romblon State University (RSU) and other large organizations recently targeted by hackers have been urged by the private sector Philippine Computer Emergency Response Team (PH CERT) to establish permanent cybersecurity departments equipped with well-trained personnel. PH CERT President Lito Averia emphasized the need for institutions to allocate more resources to strengthen cybersecurity, including the establishment of incident response teams to quickly mitigate damage in case of data breaches. Averia highlighted the importance of adopting policies to penalize negligence in “cyber hygiene” to minimize risks posed by cybercriminals.

According to Philippines News Agency, Meanwhile RSU disclosed that an initial investigation into Monday’s data breach revealed that hackers posted screenshots of allegedly hacked data from the university’s old internal system. The breach, reportedly triggered by alleged wrongdoing by a faculty member, prompted RSU to report the incident to the National Privacy Commission and law enforcement agencies.

Institutions like Romblon State University (RSU) should invest more resources in bolstering cybersecurity to mitigate risks posed by cybercriminals.