The doubts raised in the President of the Republic’s speech on the security of the information systems of his Civil House led to an increase in attacks on the Government network. A statement from the Council of Ministers, issued yesterday, admits that the intrusion attempts «have intensified significantly in recent days to very worrying levels and never verified before».
The same statement states that the computer system successfully rejected 12 serious attempts at intrusion between the 27th and 29th of September, “having that number more than doubled (32 serious attempts at intrusion) between the 30th of September and 2 of October». It is recalled that the speech by the President of the Republic was made on 29 September.
Yesterday, Jornal Expresso claimed to have managed to enter the Government’s computer network, although that of the Presidency of the Republic remained inviolable. The Presidency of the Council of Ministers refutes this idea and states in a statement that “any information that suggests intrusion into the Government’s Computer Network is false”.
“The Government Informatics Network is a reserved network that is strongly protected from external access by the Internet, with the respective computer equipment subject to rigorous levels of security and advanced protection instruments”, the same document states.
However, it is possible to access the name registration area of the subdomains «gov.pt», «which are mere addresses for accessing Internet sites, in which only content of public disclosure resides».
The CEGER (Government Information Network Management Center) guarantees that it has already initiated efforts to detect the origin of the intrusion attempts and that it will not fail to participate criminally against those responsible “for the practice of any illegal acts in the field of cybercrime, under applicable legal provisions ”.
Prevention mechanisms available to counter the intensification of computer attacks are also being reassessed.
