Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia recently said that the poll body will be on full alert during the Holy Week, noting that cyberattacks usually occur when people’s guards are down, on vacation or relaxing.
The Information and Technology Department of the Comelec will be conducting 24-hour monitoring of their system to prevent any hacking attempts during the weekend.
Garcia said there have been millions of unsuccessful cyberattacks on the Comelec website and 75,000 failed attempts to hack the overseas voting system.
He noted that overseas voting for over 1.2 million Filipinos abroad would begin on Sunday, where more than 36,000 registered voters have enrolled to avail of the internet voting system. He adds that a majority of Filipinos abroad are expected to troop to embassies and consulates to cast their votes, although they expect the number to be fewer this year due to the internet voting option.
With the May polls just around the corner, the pressure on the Comelec to ensure a successful conduct of the elections must be massive, and one of the more significant threats is if its system is hacked or compromised, which could seriously undermine the credibility of the vote. Being on full alert during the Holy Week holidays, when the rest of the country is enjoying the break, is part of the job and hopefully those who are keeping watch are well prepared and properly compensated, all the way until election day, in order to thwart any attempts to tamper with or sabotage the polls.
Let us continue to wish the Comelec all the best as they oversee the conduct of this year’s polls, in the hope that they are able to deliver elections that are fair, free, and truly reflect the will of the people.*
