House of Representatives Secretary General Reginald Velasco did not discount the possibility that the recent defacing of the House website was an inside job.
“One of the suspicions was it was an inside job in other words yun nga na-hack yung email or cellphone ng one of the administrators,” Velasco said on Thursday.
Noting that the House website has about 4 or 5 administrators, Velasco added: “The suspicion is that the cellphone or email of one of the administrators was hacked, so we’re very careful now.”
Velasco said the website attackers only managed to deface it and failed to get confidential or sensitive data.
To protect the House website, Velasco said Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez tapped him to head a committee “to address cybersecurity concerns.”
Velasco said his team plans to tap a third-party provider for this, probably by next year.
“We don’t really have the necessary expertise and staff because our goal is to have our own cybersecurity unit rather than relying on the DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) for the anti-cybersecurity,” he said.
The House is also working with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) and law enforcement agencies to investigate the hacking last Oct. 14.
Visitors to the House website that day found this message: “YOU’VE BEEN HACKED. YOU’VE BEEN HACKED. HAVE A NICE DAY.” It was accompanied by a caricature of a laughing man.
Below it was the message: “HAPPY APRIL FULLZ KAHIT OCTOBER PALANG! HACKED BY 3MUSKETEERZ 15-October-2023 || 11:31:24 AM”
Late in September, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) said hackers had threatened to expose confidential data it had stolen from the state-owned agency if it did not pay a $300,000 ransom.