MANILA, Philippines — A website of one of the Philippine National Police’s support units was hacked by still unidentified persons on Sunday night, rendering the website virtually useless until Monday.
The Police Security and Protection Group’s website was defaced by a hacker who identified himself as a certain “Leon HDZ,” posting a photograph of a faceless man in a suit on its homepage.
The PNP spokesperson, Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo Jr., confirmed the hacking, which happened at around 11 p.m., Sunday.
“The PSPG is currently working with the Information Technology Management System and the Anti-Cybercrime Group to restore the website back to normal and to identify the perpetrators,” the official said in a press briefing in Camp Crame.
Once identified, the hacker will also be charged for the defacement of the website, pspg.pnp.gov.ph.
The hacker made unauthorized entries on the website, which have not yet been taken down as of Monday, although there were no sensitive data
affected by the hacking.
The text read: “Hacked by Leon HDZ. Secure your shit. Don’t worry about your website, I’ll take care of it;” “Secure your shit. Vive Palestine, Vive L’Algerie, Fuck Israel, Fuck Natanyahou the asshole;” “If you want to contact me, don’t.”
This was followed by: “Free Palestine, Leon HDZ was here. I love my country, and I love Palestine. Don’t panik (sic) yo, you’re not in danger. Fuck Israel, free Palestine, Fuck Obama and bankemon, Fuck Daaich!”
Cerbo noted that the messages posted were not anti-government or against the PNP or the Philippines.
“The message seems to be more global in nature. Nonetheless the PSPG is still investigating this issue,” the PNP spokesperson said.
He assured the public the PNP had security measures in place for more than 100 official websites of the PNP’s main and supporting units.
“What happened with the PSPG is an isolated matter, but we are not taking this lightly. We are taking steps to avoid this kind of incidents in the future,” Cerbo said.