Members of the hacker group Anonymous Philippines yesterday declared a ceasefire from hacking government websites until a new President is elected and called on the release of the arrested hackers.
Around 30 members of the group trooped to the Department of Justice on Padre Faura St. in Ermita, Manila yesterday and joined public clamor that the government should hire the arrested hackers instead.
The National Privacy Commission frowned on the hiring of arrested hackers Paul Biteng and Joenel de Asis as this might be a signal to jobless Information Technology experts that there are jobs waiting for them.
Wearing signature masks similar to the mask in the movie “V for Vendetta,” they endured the morning heat to express that defacing the poll body’s website only showed that their system was indeed weak.
“Ito po ay pagpapatibay lamang din na ang gobyerno ay naging pabaya sa seguridad ng data ng bawat Pilipino,” they said.
They also reiterated that their member Biteng only defaced the Comelec website and was not responsible of leaking the data, a statement already confirmed by De Asis who arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation last Thursday in Muntinlupa City.
De Asis said that their group LulzSec Philippines leaked a 340-gigabyte Commission on Elections voters’ database online through a fake Facebook account.
However, they said the hacker website “WeHaveYourData.com” which contained the sensitive data was put up by somebody else.
Anonymous Philippines also revealed that they have forewarned Comelec officials back in 2013 about the many vulnerabilities of their website. “Ibinunyag na namin noong 2013 na mahina ang inyong sistema ngunit ano ang nangyari? Hindi ba’t kapabayaan ito?”
The group also said that they have been keeping watch on the Comelec’s system since 2010. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)