MANILA — The Department of Information and Communications Technology has identified security vulnerabilities in the digital assets of 388 government offices in the Philippines, but only 55 of them, or less than a fifth, responded to DICT’s warning.

DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy said over 30,000 vulnerabilities were found through Project SONAR (Secure Online Network Assessment and Response System), when they scanned the more than 2,000 digital assets of 885 government offices. The project was launched in December 2023, in response to hacking incidents of government websites.

Vulnerabilities refer to flaws or weaknesses in an IT systems that can be exploited by an attacker or lead to cyberattacks, if not addressed.

"We found 30,682 vulnerabilities. Medyo hindi maganda ang state ng ating government agencies… This is not something we can resolve overnight. At least information is now in their hands, including what type of vulnerabilities were found. So that if they need to procure something to protect themselves, then that can happen,” Dy told joint House panels investigating the incidents of hacking and cyberattacks in government agencies.

“Out of 388 na agencies na pinadalhan namin ng reports, 55 lang ang sumagot. Which means 14.20% lang ng government agencies na pinadalhan namin… ang nagrespond. This is very low compared to what we expect,” he said.

"Ang next na namin gagawin sa DICT ay request focal persons and contacts na mag-concentrate sa nahanap na vulnerabilities,” Dy added.

The DICT is in talks with officials of the Department of Budget and Management on the proposed inclusion of the cybersecurity vulnerability response in an agency’s performance evaluation.

"We are also discussing with some officials of DBM, baka pwedeng isama na ito doon sa scorecards ng government agencies that they resolve the vulnerabilities that we reported to them,” Dy said.