Comelec denies data breach allegations

MANILA, Philippines - Claims of another data breach in its system have been refuted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

George Erwin Garcia, the chairman of the Comelec, affirmed that their website and social media accounts have not recently been compromised.

"After working with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DITC), we confirmed all the claims and discovered no proof of hacking," Garcia said, reassuring the public that the Comelec's website and social media accounts are still secure.

Comelec has recruited its IT staff to bolster cybersecurity procedures to guarantee ongoing system protection.

Given the sensitive nature of electoral data, Garcia admitted that hacking Comelec's system might be viewed as a high-profile target.

He did, however, emphasize that they are making significant preparations to ensure that the precinct locator system and election result broadcasts are impenetrable by hackers and that the DICT discovered no indications of hacking.

According to DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy, their sensors keep an eye on social media activity and reports of hacking in government organizations.

"Like the first reports, we found no indications of compromise, but we picked up claims of a Comelec hack," Dy said.

In the meantime, Comelec declared that it plans to finish printing ballots by March 9 or 10.

As of now, more than 43 million ballots have been created, which is roughly 43% of the amount required for the midterm elections.