A SENATOR on Tuesday warned that the Chinese government may heavily influence the 2022 polls through cyberespionage.
Senator Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel made the statement after cybersecurity firm Kaspersky detected a “rare, wide-scale advanced persistent threat” by a “Chinese-speaking threat actor” against users in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.
“China’s cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns will be one of the biggest threats to our national security and our democracy,” Ms. Hontiveros said in a press release.
The senator said the Department of National Defense and the Department of Information and Communications Technology must look into Kaspersky’s report, which showed that some 1,400 users in the Philippines, including government entities, have fallen victim to spear-phishing emails that contain malicious documents.
Ms. Hontiveros said Chinese authorities might be using some video-conferencing apps to steal data from users. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza