The President of the Philippines, Bongbong Marcos, and other government organisations were targets of a cyber attack from China-based hackers.
This was disclosed by an official of the Information and Communications Ministry on Monday.
According to the statement, the hackers attempted to break the email systems of the president and government agencies including one responsible for providing maritime security.
The hackers targeted the mailboxes of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the National Coast Watch website, amongst others, a spokesperson of DICT, Renato Paraiso, stated.
All the cyber attacks were however warded off by the Philippine government.
“We are not attributing this to any state. But using the internet protocol addresses, we pinpointed it to China,” Paraiso disclosed.
He also added that the hackers, according to a trace, had been utilising the services of a state-owned company in China, Unicom.
“We are appealing to the Chinese government to help us prevent further attacks.”
Unicom and China’s embassy in the Philippine capital Manila were yet to release a response to the allegation at the time of filing this report.
At the time of the foiled cyberattacks, relations with China were particularly high due to the disputed South China Sea area.
Reports say the Philippine government is presently developing a five-year cybersecurity plan to strengthen its defenses against cyberattacks and cybercrimes. Last year, its military declared that it would establish a cyber command.