MANILA, Philippines – While Rappler’s earlier coverage of the Mandiant Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) report put into context the possibility of a China-based, sustained hacking operation to acquire information from companies and governments, it seems the Philippines is also at risk.

VinceWade, a commenter on Rappler’s first report, mentioned Mandiant also had a video on YouTube showing one of the hacking profiles, whom Mandiant calls DOTA, logging into one of his email accounts.

At the 0:58 mark, the voiceover explains DOTA’s entry into the account, which show “confirmation emails for additional accounts that DOTA created, as well as bounces and nondelivery receipts for spearphishing messages, most of which seem to be focused on military exercises in the Philippines.”

While the Chinese government has responded to the hacking allegations, calling them “groundless,” the threat persists regardless of the origin of the attacks, and the Philippine government would do well to take notice of this security issue. – Rappler.com