The Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) said it is investigating the possibility of a cyberattack causing the air traffic management glitch at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

DICT said it will likely release its result in February, according to Maria Victoria Castro of the Cybersecurity Bureau of the DICT in a House hearing on Wednesday.

“Since January 2, the Cybersecurity Bureau has been in touch with the CAAP in terms of determining a possible cyberattack. So that effort is ongoing right now. Together with the investigation being conducted by the CICC (Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center),” Castro said.

“It really is taking time because the CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines) is not connected with DICT, so we have to conduct the investigation determining the logs in the network that they have. We awaiting a lot of submissions from them to determine the origin if there really is one,” she added.

In response to Paranaque City Rep. Gus Tambunting’s question on whether they could give results after Valentine’s Day, Castro said the probe could take up to six weeks.

“For a forensic investigation like this one, the minimum is six weeks. Hopefully, we would have (an answer from CAAP), but it would really depend on the information we receive from CAAP,'' said Castro.

CICC executive director and Information and Communications Technology Undersecretary Alex Ramos promised that they would be able to release a report on the investigation by February.

“We would have the results by that time and if we can accelerate it further, we will do so,” Ramos said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS