TWO lawmakers on Wednesday filed a resolution asking appropriate committees in the House of Representatives to probe the hacking of the Commission on Elections’ website.
In House Resolution 2694, Bayan Muna party-list Reps. Carlos Zarate and Neri Colmenares said the issue that put serious questions on the integrity of the May 9 elections had to be explained by the Comelec.
On March 27, the Comelec’s website was defaced and its database containing personal information on 55 million voters was hacked by the groups Anonymous Philippines and LulzSec Pilipinas.
The whole database was posted online by LulzSec Pilipinas and was made available for downloading by the public. That was considered by information technology communities and companies as one of the biggest data breaches in history.
“The Comelec downplayed the issue when it admitted that the commission did not strengthen its website’s security features,” Zarate said.
In seeking a probe, Zarate said they wanted Congress to ensure the transparency of the automated election system.
Colmenares said the House committees on suffrage and human rights to conduct a joint investigation of the leaked personal and sensitive identifiable information of voters from the Comelec’s database, effectively compromising the security and identity of about 55 million Filipino voters.
“The Comelec failed to reassure the voters’ clamor for protection and security when for more than a month since the breach happened on March 27, 2016 [when the poll body] has yet to verify the accuracy of the leaked data,” Colmenares said.
“This puts into question the claims of Comelec that sensitive biometrical information was not included in the leak, as they are still in the process of verifying the accuracy of the leak.”