MANILA — The Philippine National Police said its online services have been suspended as it probes into the alleged breach of its data systems.

PNP Public Information Office Acting Chief and Spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo "the PNP is proactively implementing measures to strengthen the security postures of the IT infrastructure."

"In this regard, all PNP online services are temporarily unavailable until further notice," Fajardo added.

She said this was a precautionary measure after an attempt to hack the Logistics Data Information and Management System and the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) data systems.

Fajardo said people who need police clearance and other permits must go to the PNP's regional offices or Camp Crame.

"This is to give way to the ongoing assessment and investigation of the reported breach, particularly in our FEO," Fajardo said.  

The PNP however, she said, is still verifying the alleged breach.  

"Kung totoo man at kung may talagang reported breach, at sa ngayon ay hindi pa natin ma-determine ang extent ng sinasabing breach, ay it would be prudent on the part of the PNP to really shutdown all frontline services to make sure na hindi na rin ito mata-target ng ibang attempt to breach or hack yung ating mga ating systems," Fajardo said.  

(If the reported breach is true, and since we have not yet determined the extent of the said breach, it would be prudent on the part of the PNP to shut down all frontline services to make sure that they are not targeted by other attempts to breach or hack our systems.) 

She said the PNP is coordinating with the Department of Information and Communications Technology on the alleged breach.

"At may mga nakikita tayo sa news ngayon mga pangalan na allegedly part ng mga breach but this is part of the investigation at evaluation natin to confirm whether yung mga luamalabas ng mga pangalan na kasama doon sa breach are indeed part of the leaked data uploaded yung sinasabi nating threat actor," said Fajardo.

(We are seeing names in the news now, allegedly part of the breach, but this is part of our investigation and evaluation to confirm whether the names coming out are indeed part of the leaked data uploaded by the said threat actor.) 

In an interview with ANC on Tuesday, DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Dy noted that many "important personalities" who get death threats are owners of firearms and are thus in the FEO database.