Philippine government websites under cyber-attack

A number of Philippine government websites were under cyber-attacks yesterday including the Department of National Defense, Philippine Coast Guard, and Department of Foreign Affairs.

According to PhilStar, at least 68 Philippine government websites were recently subjected to various forms of cyber-attacks which included hacking, defacement, and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS).

Websites affected were the Department of National Defense, the Philippine Coast Guard, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Health, Presidential Management Staff, and gov.ph domain registry website. As of writing, the said government websites are up and running. It’s not limited to government websites though as reports say that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas also came under attack, but authorities were able to stop it.

Sources of the attacks are yet to be determined, but initial investigation point to an entity operating from the Netherlands.

Inquirer.net also reported incidents of hacking on the LGU websites of Bohol. Websites such as www.panglao.gov.ph and www.loon.gov.ph were allegedly defaced by suspected Chinese hackers, posting an image of a man with a Guy Fawkes mask and the following message:

“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice. If you are a man you take it.”
—Chinese government

The cyber-attacks came several days after the Philippines won the arbitration case versus China over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

sources: PhilStar, Inquirer