WEAK CYBERSECURITY | House of Representatives website is latest target of hacking

October 16, 2023 , 12:33 PM

By Beatrice Puente

(October 16, 2023) – Even the website of the House of Representatives was not spared from the recent spate of hacking incidents that have targeted the websites of government agencies.

Reginald Velasco, the secretary general of the House of Representatives, confirmed the development but he assured that the authorities are doing everything to address the situation.

“Immediate steps have been taken to address the issue and we are working closely with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), and law enforcement agencies concerned to investigate the matter,” said Velasco in a statement.

On Sunday, the website of the lower chamber showed a meme that contained the text, “You have been hacked. Have a nice day.”

Velasco advised people to be extra wary of “any suspicious emails or communications” purportedly from the House of Representatives.

“We are committed to ensure the security and integrity of our digital platforms and we will implement additional measures to prevent such incidents in the future,” said Velasco.

Before this, the Department of Science and Technology and the Philippine Statistics Authority also experienced website breaches. They followed the ransomware attack on the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) that leaked over 700 gigabytes of data on the dark web.

In a statement, the DICT also confirmed the “cybersecurity incident” that affected the House of Representatives yesterday, noting that the website was brought down to stop any unauthorized access. It was reported to the Philippine National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-PH).

“Ang CERT-PH ay nagsasagawa ng imbestigasyon upang malaman kung may mga sensitibong impormasyon na nakuha ang threat actor na sangkot sa insidente,” said the DICT, noting that the information technology team of the House of Representatives was already told what to do to prevent similar incidents.

The DICT said the authorities will conduct a threat actor attribution and case buildup to hold accountable the hackers.

“Nais ipaalam ng DICT sa publiko na ang security vulnerabilities ng HOR (House of Representatives) website ay maiaayos at ito ay ibabalik online sa lalong madaling panahon,” added the DICT.

As of writing, the website of the lower chamber is still not available online but it expected to be back within the day.

The DICT previously urged lawmakers to restore their request of P300 million confidential funds in light of the string of data breaches. It can be recalled that a small committee of the House of Representatives included the DICT as one of the government agencies stripped of their confidential funds.

Sen. Grace Poe called on the DICT and other concerned agencies to step up to put a stop to the “hacking spree of government websites.”

“Hindi puwedeng business as usual at maghintay na lang sa susunod na biktima ng data breach. Kailangan matigil ang hacking at mapanagot ang mga salarin,” said Poe in a statement.

(PM)

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