Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan John Uy on Thursday announced plans to conduct information campaign on cybersecurity to help Filipinos become more aware of risks and threats in the cyber space.

This effort is part of the country’s National Cybersecurity Plan 2024-2028, which was already presented to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Uy said.

“We’re also doing more information campaign to make the public aware of what are the risks involved, what are the different schemes and scams that are out there,” he said.

Uy recalled the infamous ILOVEYOU virus in the year 2000 that affected millions of computer systems worldwide. He said that could have been mitigated or prevented if the public was made more aware back then.

The malware was created by a Filipino who initially wanted to steal other users’ passwords so he could access the internet without paying.

“We landed in the world stage back in the 2000 with the “ILOVEYOU” virus. So, Filipinos are naturally romantic. And, you know, we just need to warn everybody to watch out against clicking baits or phishing attempts,” Uy said.

Uy said cybercriminals are becoming more innovative with their approach. “They are very adept in using what we call social engineering in order to steal your passwords, to cox into revealing your e-wallet accounts and so on,” he pointed out.

Uy also urged the public to visit the online platforms of DICT to get informed of the latest methods in online scams that cybercriminals are using. PND