Gov’t actively seeking services of ethical hackers

The National Privacy Commission called on “white hat” hackers in the Philippines to help secure the government’s data-driven projects, starting with the soon-to-be implemented Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), or the national ID.

White hat hackers are those who are considered helpful or benign hackers as opposed to “black hat hackers, whose activities serve malicious or criminal purposes.”

Privacy Commissioner Raymund Enriquez Liboro said in a statement one of the biggest challenges of the government today was delivering basic services at the same level of efficiency as the private sector, which he said can only be done through digital transformation.

“We can do a lot more to help protect the data that will come out of PhilSys processing,” Liboro said.

“You can do your part in it as well as ‘hackers ng bayan’ and indeed I strongly urge you to help government make this right,” he asked the white hats. “Your country needs you more than ever.”

Also, Liboro said the fastest and safest route to digital transformation would be through an active collaboration between the government and “patriotic hackers.”

“It is you who will design and implement the structures that keep our data safe,” he said. “You will be at the vanguard, keeping threats and hazards at bay, so that everyone’s data will remain safely private.”

To this end, the commission announced a partnership with the Philippine Statistics Authority related to an initiative  called “hackBAYAN.”

The program enlists at least 30 Philippine white hats to help PhilSys managers fully gauge the risks of running it, help identify potential problem areas and implement appropriate risk reduction and mitigation strategies.

Liboro said the results of this campaign would serve as a guide for securing PhilSys and provide a  pattern for many similar collaborations aimed at fortifying public digital institutions.