Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 9) — The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) urges the public to be vigilant and take precautionary measures against fraudulent activities in light of the Sept. 22 ransomware attack.
In a statement Sunday, the state health insurer strongly advised members to change their online account passwords, enable multi-factor authentication, and monitor suspicious activity in their online accounts. It added that they should also avoid opening and clicking suspicious emails and links, and answering suspicious calls and text messages.
“Using the stolen data, the hackers will likely target members through calls, emails or text messages,” PhilHealth chief Emmanuel R. Ledesma Jr. said. “Let us then heed the advice of authorities to refrain from clicking doubtful links or providing passwords or OTPs. It is best to ignore suspicious calls, and to delete text or emails instead from unknown and suspicious senders.”
The recommendation comes following the announcement of the Department of Information and Technology (DICT) that the hackers uploaded on Telegram over 600 gigabytes’ worth of illegally obtained data from the workstations of PhilHealth employees.
Based on the DICT’s initial analysis, the personal data included identification cards, payrolls, photos, and some ATM cards of PhilHealth employees.
Authorities previously said the hackers may face up to 20 years in prison and that any individual or entity found downloading, processing, or sharing the exfiltrated data will be held accountable for unauthorized processing of personal information and could also face criminal charges.
The National Privacy Commission has launched a further investigation into the cyberattack and that officials could be charged for possible negligence.
PhilHealth said it is prepared to face any inquiry on the incident.
