TARLAKENYO (Oct. 15, 2023) — After the hacking of PhilHealth and Philippine Statistics Authority, the website of the House of Representatives experienced “unauthorized access.”
The House of Representatives of the Philippines website – www.congress.gov.ph – has been vandalized this morning.
The online vandals left a message —
“YOU’VE BEEN HACKED. YOU’VE BEEN HACKED. HAVE A NICE DAY.”
“HAPPY APRIL FULLZ KAHIT OCTOBER PALANG! HACKED BY 3MUSKETEERZ 15-October-2023 || 11:31:24 AM”
“We wish to inform the public that the official website of the House of Representatives experienced unauthorized access earlier today,” House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said this afternoon
The website still remains inaccessible as of this writing.
This is the latest hacking incident of government systems after the more serious Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)data breaches on Sept. 22, 2023, and Oct. 7, 2023, respectively.
PHILHEALTH – PERSONAL AND HEALTH DATA LEAKED
Millions of people’s PhilHealth information was leaked online after the state insurer declined to pay the $300,000 ransom demand.
The National Privacy Commission (NPC) described the 734 GB amount of data stolen as “staggering.”
The NPC has created a landing page where individuals can check if their personal information is part of the leaked data. Go here: https://philhealthleak.privacy.gov.ph
It is also investigating PhilHealth for any possible lapses and data law violations.
PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY – MARGINALIZED PEOPLE’S DATA STOLEN
Meanwhile, the PSA’s Community-Based Monitoring System was affected as the financial information of people from poor communities was acquired by unidentified hackers.
“We are confident that the PhilSys (Philippine Identification System), or the National ID as well as the civil registration databases are not affected by this attack,” PSA Data Protection Officer Eliezer Ambatali said.
