BIZ BUZZ: Secret probe’s focus: Sabotage

They won’t admit it publicly at this point, but the Department of Transportation is quietly and secretly investigating whether the New Year’s Day collapse of the country’s air traffic management system—which inconvenienced thousands of airline passengers during the busy travel season —was caused by sabotage from within or without.

In particular, focus is being given on the so-called uninterruptible power supply (UPS) of the computer systems and radar workstations that allow air traffic controllers to safely direct aircraft flying within the country’s airspace. As it happened on that fateful day, the uninterruptible power supply proved to be not so uninterruptible after all, an insider explained to Biz Buzz.

The department’s probers are using as a reference several advisories earlier released by the United States’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa) warning the public that UPS systems around the world are vulnerable to cyberattacks. Once these systems are compromised, it becomes easier to make the computers crash even without penetrating the cyberdefenses of the computers themselves.

Another focus of this probe is to determine whether the UPS of local air traffic controllers were infected long ago with so-called zero-day bugs that can lie in wait for days, weeks or months before striking on a key changeover date—perhaps like Jan. 1—to remotely overheat UPS systems, burn out devices and, thus disable power.

Of course, all these are still subject to validation by the ongoing internal probe. But the next obvious question is, if this is indeed what happened, who would have the means, motive and opportunity to execute such an audacious act of sabotage? Abangan!

—Daxim L. Lucas

Sweetening the deal

Grab Philippines is enticing driver-partners by giving out bonuses to those who will sign up on the ride-hailing app.

The super app operator has been accepting applicants after the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board recently opened over 4,400 transportation network vehicle service slots (TNVS) amid the growing demand for transportation.

The bonus amounts to up to P10,000 for applicants with six-seater vehicles and up to P6,000 for those with four-seater units.

The ride-hailing service provider dealt with the shortage of drivers earlier last year due to the pandemic. Some of their partners had to give up their cars because they could no longer afford the monthly amortization. To recall, mobility was severely curtailed by the strict COVID-19 restrictions.

“We understand the vital role of efficient mobility in the daily lives of the commuting public, and we are fully committed to providing a much better ride-hailing experience to our passengers as we welcome more driver-partners onto the platform,” said Ronald Roda, senior director for strategy and operations of Grab Philippines.

Roda said the new TNVS slots would “truly benefit the many Filipinos who are back on the road on the way to their offices, families and even leisure travels.”

—Tyrone Jasper C. Paid

Wanted: fresh ideas

It’s been a challenging period for technology firms and their younger startup peers, with many having to take a haircut, a buzz cut or worse given the stormy outlook for the global economy.

This is not stopping payments leader Visa from continuing the third edition of its accelerator program, which is open to startups in the Philippines and rest of the Asia-Pacific.

Visa is looking for fresh ideas in payments, with the 2023 program focused on the next generation of the internet, dubbed Web 3.0; embedded finance; merchant and small business enablers; and open banking solutions.

Ideal applicants were Series A startups and above with existing operations in Asia-Pacific. Interested founders have until Jan. 10 this year to visit the Visa website to apply.

—Miguel R. Camus INQ

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