DECS forms team to go after hackers

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN/2000-08/MN081204.asp

Saturday, 12 August 2000

By JOEL C. ATENCIO

Education Secretary Andrew Gonzalez has formed the Department of
Education, Culture, and Sports (DECS)-Incidence Reporting Team (IRT)
to monitor and go after computer hackers who try to tamper with the
DECS data systems and websites of private and public schools
nationwide.

In a DECS memorandum, Gonzalez said that the IRT was formed in line
with a directive of the National Computer Center (NCC) last June,
requesting all government agencies to form groups to monitor, report,
and deal with virus alerts and other computer irregularities.

"The IRT, under the DECS Information and Communication Technology Task
Force, will be responsible for responding to all reports within the
DECS organization, from the central to the division offices, on
possible computer attacks from hackers or rogue programmers, computer
viruses, and other deliberate, unauthorized efforts to alter data
stored in DECS computers or in electronic storage media such as
removable hard disks and magnetic tapes," Gonzalez said.

He also warned all DECS officials that all instances of attempts to
deny the use of computers to authorized department personnel in the
performance of their duties, whether through physical means or the use
of computerized or electronic techniques must be reported to the DECS
IRT.

The DECS chief said the IRT will investigate and collect all relevant
information on such intrusions and violations of DECS sovereignty over
computer resources, including stored data, and shall report the same
to the Philippine Computer Emergency Response Team (Ph-CERT) at the
NCC.

It will be recalled that a student from a computer school in the
Philippines was accused of creating the "I Love You" virus early this
year based on his thesis to tamper with computerized information.

The virus wrought havoc on many computer systems worldwide, causing
international confusion and computer breakdowns.

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