1.4M hacking tries at weekend – BusinessWorld Online
SOME 1.4 million attempts to hack government websites were recorded over the weekend, amid a nationwide protest against corruption, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said.
Of the total, 19 government websites were hacked, DICT Secretary Henry Rhoel R. Aguda said at a Palace briefing on Monday.
The hacked websites are under the DICT, Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev), Bureau of Customs, Anti-Red Tape Authority, and 15 local government units.
“This means the websites were defaced, but the government agencies were quick to react,” Mr. Aguda said in mixed English and Filipino.
“They were trying to overwhelm some of the websites. To date, we don’t have a verified report of exfiltration so no information has been lost.”
It is also investigating whether the hacking attempts are linked to a group called “AnonymousPH,” though the group has denied its involvement, Mr. Aguda said.
The DICT is also pursuing a “person of interest” possibly linked to the incident, although he declined to disclose information on the individual.
The agency also denied reports that hackers breached the eGovernment platform.
“We wish to clarify and reassure the public that the eGov PH App itself was not hacked or compromised. The incident involves one of the many third-party systems integrated with eGov PH — the eComplaints system — which is managed separately from the eGov PH App’s core infrastructure,” the agency said in a separate statement. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz