De Lima declares war vs ‘hacktivists’

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima

MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila De Lima ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to hunt down hactivists defacing government websites.

“I have a standing directive to NBI to hunt down hackers. There’s now a team working on it in coordination with intel units of other investigative offices,” De Lima told reporters Wednesday.

Philippine authorities have been unable stop a wave of cyber attacks by the group Anonymous Philippines since late last week protesting the passage of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

Among the hacked government websites include the Official Gazette of the Office of the President, Police Community Relations Group (PCRG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Philippine Information Agency and Food Development Center.

The website of the PCRG was defaced after the PNP ordered an investigation into the threatening messages posted by PNP fan page to Facebook users.

De Lima cautioned hacktivists to observe the rule of law.

“Disagreeing with certain sections of the law or questioning the legislative intent is no excuse to commit crimes—defacing websites whether government or not, disrupting essential operations and services, and causing damage to scarce resources,” De Lima said.