The Information and Communications Technology Service (ICTS) Team of the House of Representatives reported Thursday a significant influx of internet traffic on the Congressional website, signaling a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack aimed at disrupting normal website functions.
Citing reports from the ICTS Team, House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said an unprecedented 53.72 million attacks were detected between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Wednesday, with origins traced to Indonesia, the United States, Columbia, India, and the Russian Federation.
Additionally, at 2:52 p.m. also on Wednesday, Velasco said an astonishing 487.93 million attacks were registered, originating from sources in Tunisia, Thailand, and Greece.
These attacks, Velasco said, totaling 541.66 million, have been managed and blocked by the ICTS Team using the Cloudflare service.
“The ICTS Team has assured us that they have blocked and managed all of these attacks through the Cloudflare service, displayed an ‘under maintenance notice,’ restarted the servers, and continued normal operations. It has also been reported to the DICT. No further attacks have been observed since, and the ICTS Team continues to monitor for unusual internet activity on the website,” he said.
In response to this incident, Velasco said the House asked the DICT to conduct a thorough investigation into the origin and motives behind these DDoS attacks.
He said it is imperative to determine whether these attacks are perpetrated by local or foreign entities, or a combination thereof, and ascertain their underlying motivations, whether financial or political in nature.
According to Velasco, the House calls upon the ICTS to enhance its vigilance against future cyber threats.
As a trusted source of information for the Filipino people, the Congressional website must remain operational at all times to fulfill its mandate of providing timely and relevant updates to the public, he said.
Velasco said the House also assured the public that the situation has been contained, and measures have been implemented to fortify the website’s defenses against potential future attacks.
The resolve of Congress to uphold its duties remains steadfast, and we remain committed to thwarting any attempts by malicious actors to undermine the integrity of our digital infrastructure, he said.
Velasco said the House commends the swift and adept response of the ICTS Team in addressing the DDoS attacks.
With this incident, Velasco reaffirmed the crucial role of competent IT professionals in safeguarding the integrity and accessibility of our digital platforms against malicious threats.
“We call on the ICTS to be more vigilant against these attacks. The Filipino people are counting on us to bring them relevant information through our website, so it must remain up and running at all times,” he added.