‘Hacktivists’ to Aquino: We are watching you till 2016
Anonymous
Months prior to that, in August 2013, Anonymous Philippines also defaced at least 30 government websites in the light of their antipork protests.
On its Facebook page, Anonymous Philippines claimed that the websites of the Office of the President, Senate, Bureau of Customs (BOC), Department of Finance, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Public Works and Highways, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Treasury, Department of Energy, Department of Education and Department of Environment and Natural Resources were affected.
The same group also defaced the website of the Office of the President in March 2013 for “mishandling” the Sabah crisis caused by the revival of the Sultanate of Sulu’s claim on Sabah.
CyberCrime Prevention Act
The “hacktivists”—from the term hacktivism that fuses hacking and social activism—also struck on
Jan. 15, 2013, the scheduled day for oral arguments in the Supreme Court for Republic Act No. 10175, or the CyberCrime Prevention Act of 2012, a law that protesters say threatens freedom of speech.
Websites of BOC and the television show “Eat Bulaga,” were defaced by hacker group Private X, a member of Anonymous Philippines. Also hacked was the website of the Quezon City Police District.
Gov’t websites
A day earlier, the group hit several government websites, including those of the National Food Authority, National Maritime Polytechnic, Cebu Port Authority and the Municipality of Jose Panganiban (formerly Mambulao), to draw attention to the oral arguments at the high tribunal.
In September 2012, the websites of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, the American Chamber of Commerce, the Philippine Anti-Piracy Team and the Agusan del Sur website were hacked by Anonymous Philippines as the cybercrime law took effect. Those of the Official Gazette, Senate and NBI were either defaced or suffered denial-of-service attacks.
Cybercrime law suspension
The Supreme Court extended indefinitely its order suspending the implementation of the cybercrime law in February 2013.
Last March, the website of Police Security and Protection Group, a support unit of the Philippine National Police, was defaced by a hacker calling himself “Leon HDZ” who took over the site and posted a photograph of a faceless man in a suit on the homepage.
Source: Inquirer Archives
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