The Department of Finance (DOF) has expressed confidence that regulators and the banks whose depositors have reportedly experiencing hacking attacks on their accounts in recent days are taking appropriate actions to address the issue.
DOF Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, in a Viber message to journalists, said he is “very aware of the complaints of many depositors” and have raised the issue to officials of concerned banks as well as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) “as early as two weeks ago.”
“I am confident that they are all taking appropriate actions on a timely basis to protect the banks’ clients and bring the perpetrators to justice,” he said.
Dominguez also disclosed that “as early as 18 months ago, all government financial institutions embarked upon a program to strengthen all their cybersecurity defenses in anticipation of precisely this type of criminal activity.”
Clients of the Sy-led Banco de Oro posted on social media over the weekend, that they are having problems accessing their accounts online while some claimed unauthorized transactions.
BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said monetary authorities were monitoring the developments and are “in close coordination” with BDO as well as the Union Bank of the Philippines (Unionbank) “to ensure that remedial measures are being undertaken.”
“BSP will do everything to ensure the safety and integrity of the financial system and the protection of financial consumers,” he assured.
Some depositors claim that proceeds of the unauthorized transactions were deposited to Unionbank accounts.