(Eagle News) – Senate Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to “make a thorough investigation” of the widespread hacking of a large number of websites of the government, military and educational institutions last April 1.
The attack was allegedly made by the hacking group Pinoy LulzSec as part of it’s “April Fools Day” prank.
The group leaked databases from the Philippine Army, and also hacked into the websites of several government departments and universities.
-Alarming-
“It is very alarming that not only was the group able to hack and deface government websites, they were also able to access and leak sensitive information of the Philippine Army, including the Army’s personnel list,” Gatchalian said.
“Let us not forget that they are the same group that leaked the Comelec database in 2016, exposing voters’ private data to the world wide web,” the senator stressed.
The hacking group even listed in their tweets the particular websites that it had hacked on April 1 allegedly just for fun.
Gatchalian said that those behind such activities should be made accountable, and be punished.
“We should hold the people behind these hacks accountable for their crimes,” he said.
The senator said that “even the official Senate website does not currently use a secure connection.”
He stressed that “the government must also take steps to secure critical information structures and government networks.”
-AFP probes hacking incident-
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has already started its investigation of the hacking done on its data base that had allegedly exposed the basic information of some 20,000 military personnel.
The AFP said it had already coordinated with its Communication Electronics and Information Systems Service to probe this incident, according to the chief of the AFP-Public Affairs Office (AFP-PAO), Col. Noel Detoyato.
The hacking group Pinoy LulzSec claimed that the AFP website was allegedly able to hack into the AFP’s date base that contained the names of the military personnel, their serial numbers, units, positions, courses, class, and remarks. This also allegedly included data on whether they failed in their mission, and also was able to gain access injury entries of AFP personnel.
The National Privacy Commission (NPC) said it is already coordinating with the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Communications, Electronics, and Information Systems (G6) based in Fort Bonifacio as they investigate the hacking incident.
The university websites the group Pinoy LulzSec was able to hack into allegedly included Ateneo de Zamboanga and the Technological University of the Philippines in Taguig.
