BusinessMirror The Nation Cybersecurity firm: Ransomware attacks in PHL rise by 57.4% in ’22

By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan

RANSOMWARE attacks in the Philippines surged by 57.4 percent in 2022 with 11 reported cases across key sectors, including manufacturing, according to Unit 42 investigations by US-based cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks.

The Philippines took up the 4th spot in Southeast Asia, alongside Malaysia, with 11 reported ransomware attacks and a 57.4-percent surge, accounting for around 12 percent of the attacks in the region,” Palo Alto Networks said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

T he cybersecurity firm said the

Philippines “trailed behind” Thailand (28), Singapore (18), and Indonesia (14), on the list of the most attacked countries. In contrast, the firm said the Philippines was ahead of Vietnam (9).

Palo Alto reported that Manufacturing, Professional & Legal Services, and State & Local Governments remained the most targeted sectors in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, ransomware attacks increased by 35.4 percent to 302 within the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, Palo Alto said.

G lobally, it said ransomware demands continued to be a “pain point” for organizations the past year, with payments as high as $7 million or P383 million in cases that Unit 42 observed.

“ The global median demand was $650,000 or P35.5 million, while the median payment was $350,000 or P18.9 million, indicating that effective negotiation can drive down to actual payments,” the cybersecurity firm said.

T he report revealed the extortion techniques being used by ransomware groups as these groups aim to apply more pressure on organizations to pay the ransom.

“ Some of these tactics include encryption, data theft, distributed denial of service [DDoS], and harassment,” Palto Alto said.

T he cybersecurity firm said data theft was the most common extortion tactic, with 70 percent of groups using it by late 2022, which it said is a 30-percentage point increase from the year prior.

Every day, Palo Alto said Unit 42 researchers see an average of seven new ransomware victims posted on leak sites—equating to one new victim every four hours.

In fact, in 53 percent of Unit 42’s ransomware incidents involving negotiation, ransomware groups have threatened to leak data stolen from organizations on their leak websites, Palo Alto said.

Further, it noted, this activity has been seen from “a mix of new and legacy groups,” indicating that new actors are entering the landscape to cash in as legacy groups have done.

Established groups like BlackCat, LockBit, and others contributed to 57 percent of the leaks, with new groups trailing close behind with 43 percent,” Palo Alto said.

In the past year, the cybersecurity firm noted there have been “notable attacks” from ransomware groups, with a “particular spike” in attacks on schools and hospitals.

T his includes the attacks from Vice Society, which Palo Alto said was responsible for the data leaks from several major school systems in 2022.

T he cybersecurity firm said the group continues to be active in 2023, with nearly half of the incidents posted to their leak site impacting educational institutions.

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla & Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday assured the safety of Negros Oriental 3rd District Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” A. Teves Jr. upon his return to the Philippines to face the ongoing probe into the killing of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel R. Degamo.

I n an ambush interview with reporters following the 126th Philippine Army founding anniversary in Taguig City, the President said the government is willing to allow Teves to use the Philippine Air Force base for his arrival.

“He can land in the base, which will be surrounded by soldiers and no one will be allowed to go near him. So…that will guarantee his security,”

Marcos said in Filipino. However, he said, the government currently has no information on any threat on the life of the lawmaker.

T he President made the pronouncement after Teves’ lawyers said their client decided to postpone his return due to supposed “grave threats” to his life and family. Teves was allowed to travel to the United States by the leadership of the House of Representatives for medical reasons, but his travel authority expired last March 9.

T he lawmaker claimed there are orders from Malacañang to link him to e-sabong (electronic cockfighting), which Marcos denied.

“ This is about the killing of Governor Degamo. Pure and simple,” Marcos said.

S ix armed men who barged into the governor’s compound last March 4 killed Degamo, along with eight others.

A special investigation task group is probing Teves for his possible complicity in the crime.

Marcos urged the lawmaker to return home soon so he could avail of more options to defend himself from the allegation.

“ The only advice I can give to Cong. Arnie is that while this continues to drag on, his situation becomes more difficult. So the earlier he can go home, he will have

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

AS sessions adjourned for the Holy Week recess, House leaders on Wednesday said they have already approved 23 of 31 important pieces of legislation identified by the LegislativeExecutive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).

Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Ro - more options [for his defense],” the President said.

“But if [his return] is already too late, the government will have no choice but to move without any discussions with him,” Marcos added.

5 more suspects yield THE government is hoping to finally identify the mastermind in the March 4 killing of Degamo in the next couple of days following the surrender of five more suspects in the murder.

We expect that evidence will turn up against the mastermind in the next few days,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said during a news briefing at Camp Aguinaldo on Wednesday where the surrender of the five suspects was announced.

T he briefing was attended by the Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr., Department of National Defense Officer in Charge Carlito Galvez Jr. and police and military officials led by PNP chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. and military chief General Andres Centino.

Degamo’s wife, Janice, and all the other mayors of Negros Oriental were also present during the briefing. While he did not identify the five suspects, Abalos said the suspects, who have felt the heat of the ongoing operations by the government, surrendered to the military, which turned them over to the National Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday.

T heir surrender has brought to a total of 10 suspects already in government custody, all of whom are former military personnel, except one who has also been a former trainee-soldier.

C entino said it was “very fortunate” that all the suspects who have been arrested so far are former soldiers, having been dishonorably discharged from the military years ago.

We will find out,” he said when asked if the former soldiers are already members of crime groups.

According to Remulla, of the 10 suspects that are in custody, nine have direct participations in the killing of Degamo.

Eight others were killed in the attack while 18 were also wounded, Abalos said.

R emulla added: “We expect much, much more results in the next few days as we are still finalizing their statements.”

T he justice chief said somebody helped and assisted the five suspects after the attack.

T he suspects, according to him, “withdrew from the site” and stayed in a safe house before they were “extracted.”

Case 80 to 90% solved DEGAMO’S wife, Janice, and nine other mayors from the province met with officials of the inter-agency task force task to resolve the killing of Gov. Degamo and eight others last March 4.

In separate interview, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said Degamo’s widow expressed her appreciation for the unrelenting effort of the task force to bring to justice all those responsible in the attack including the masterminds.

R emulla said the mayors also provided documents and other information about the current political landscape in Negros Oriental that might help the task force in maintaining peace and order in the province. T he meeting with the mayors, which lasted for almost three hours, was also attended by Secretary Abalos and some officials of the Philippine National Police.

They’re very appreciative that we’re not stopping at anything, that we are doing our work, and they’re giving us more details of things that were happing in Negros Oriental, they’re giving us documents that we can work on to start with because it’s a lot of work to do, regarding achieving lasting peace in Negros Oriental,” Remulla said.

Even Degamo’s widow, according to Remulla, expressed her satisfaction with how the task force is handling the case.

Remulla noted that the investigation in the Degamo killing is 80 to 90 percent complete, adding they already have nine persons in custody who were believed to have directly participated in the crime.

“ These nine people have been talking to the authorities about their roles in the incident that happened last March 4,” Remulla said.

PBBM tells Rep. Teves to return, face probe into Degamo slaying PCG, Navy beef up presence in KIG

W hen asked if the task force had already established Teves’ direct link in the crime, Remulla said: “The conspiracy, the masterminds, it will come when it’s there. If things are already clear. We have ideas about it but it’s not enough for us to reveal anything that we discovered. We have to work on everything.”

Remulla also appealed to Teves to stop making excuses in delaying his return to the country.

T he DOJ chief said Teves should use official channels in answering allegations against him and not through other means.

Remulla added that Teves should also return to the country and file his counter-affidavit in the murder and illegal possession of firearms charges filed against him.

‘Err on the side of caution’

MEANWHILE , Teves’ camp said they respect President Marcos’ call for the lawmaker to return to the country and answer all the allegations against him, including his involvement in several killings in the province in 2019.

However, Teves’ lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said his client would rather err on the side of caution considering the threats to his life and his family.

Topacio said Marcos might not have been privy to intelligence reports on the threats on Teves. “ We will respect the statements of the President. As you know I am also a BBM supporter but of course we would rather err on the side of caution because he might not be privy about the intelligence information or there is a possibility, or there is this thing we call cordon sanitaire where information reaching him were already filtered,” Topacio said in an ambush interview after the first preliminary hearing on the complaint of illegal possession of firearms and explosives filed against Teves and several others.

He said this is the reason why Teves appealed to Marcos to listen to other sources of intelligence other than those given by people around him. With Joel R. San Juan

THE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has deployed one of its vessels in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) to further strengthen its presence there upon the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself.

P CG Commandant Admiral Artemio Abu deployed the BRP Melchora Aquino (MRRV-9702) to Sandy Cay and Pagasa Island as the government moves to promote the KIG as a tourism area, particularly the islands of Lawak, Likas and Pagasa.

C oast Guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armand Balilo said the vessel accommodated a repair and maintenance team for its command post in Lawak and eight members of the Philippine National Police Special Operation Unit-Maritime Group who will be deployed to Pagasa.

W hile in KIG, the Melchora Aquino sighted Chinese vessels in different waters of Kalayaan. “ PCG personnel also monitored eight foreign fishing vessels through Radio Detection and Ranging and Automatic Identification System [RADAR/AIS] with visual confirmation at the vicinity waters of Menzies Reef conducting fishing activities using superlight,” Balilo said.

They also reported the presence of two more foreign fishing vessels at the vicinity waters of Lawak Island,” he added.

M eanwhile, Navy chief Vice Admiral Toribio Adaci Jr. also visited over the weekend soldiers who were deployed in different island stations in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

A daci flew to the KIG and huddled with troops at Pagasa, Parola and Likas Islands, and led the ribbon cutting and blessing of the newly constructed administrative and research building at Parola and Likas islands. Rene Acosta