The Armed Forces of the Philippines has started investigating the reported hacking of its data base that exposed close to 20,000 military personnel whose basic information, including their injuries, were in the file.
AFP-Public Affairs Office chief Col. Noel Detoyato said they are currently communicating with the Communication Electronics and Information Systems Service, Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“Kababasa ko lang. Ipapasa ko sa CEISAFP para maka react sila kung anong website itong data base na ito,” Detoyato said.
Department of Information and Communications Technology Assistant Secretary Allan Cabanlong said the DICT is working on the breach to ensure that the country and its institutions remain cyber resilient and cyber safe.
Cabanlong, also executive director of the DICT Cybercrime Investigation Coordination Center, said that for the past few months, the CICC and the CyberSecurity Bureau, “with a handful of staff without the right technology, shoestring budget and with bureaucratic challenges, have been helping government agencies, businesses, and every Filipino fight cyber crimes.”
“To say it is an uphill climb is an understatement. It has been a hard road. But each time a victim of a cyber crime thanks us for helping, we are reminded why we are doing what we are doing,” he said.
“And so, for as long as there is an agency or a business being attacked, as long as there is a child being exploited online, as long as there is a Filipino being victimized in cyberspace, we will continue to work day and night, 24/7 for a cyber resilient cyber safe Philippines,” Cabanlong added.
The National Privacy Commission is also coordinating with the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Communications, Electronics, and Information Systems (G6) based in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City on the hacking.
Hackers have breached the data base of the military, exposing almost 20,000 soldiers whose information, injuries, and missions were in the file.
Pinoy LulzSec, a local hacking group that participated in the three-day international hacking operation by LulzSec International, disclosed that of all the government agencies, learning institutions, and private firms that it “exfiltrated,” only the data base of the AFP was found to be vulnerable.
The hacking operation also downloaded the data base of Ateneo de Zamboanga and the Technological University of the Philippines in Taguig, according to Pinoy LulzSec.
The date base contained the names of the military personnel, their serial numbers, units, positions, courses, class, and remarks which included data on whether or not they failed in their mission, cheated in their exams, or were absent. Some even have injury entries in their files.
In what it called the April Lulz, Pinoy LulzSec said hundreds of government and private firms were exposed as well as personal Facebook pages.
The annual three-day international hacking operation launched by LulzSec affiliates all around the world was participated in by local hacking groups such as Pinoy LulzSec, Pinoy ClownSec, and FilTech Hackers Philippines. (Francis Wakefield)
