Police take measures against computer hacking

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine National Police has taken steps to guard against hacking and other breaches in computer security after a series of incidents involving the defacement of the Web sites of several police offices in June and September, officials said on Thursday.

It said it created the “Technical Committee on Website Hacking and Other Related Incidents” headed by Senior Superintendent Joel Victor V. Canapi, chief of directorial staff of the PNP’s Information Technology Management Service (ITMS), to respond to the hacking incidents.

The committee studied the nature of the incidents in June and September, in which hackers disabled the username and password functions on the Web sites of 10 police offices, PNP spokesperson Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said in a statement.

After the study, which began on Nov. 10, the committee recommended a careful review of the service level agreement with the Web sites’ hosting providers, “taking into consideration the inclusion of adequate security features,” Cruz said.

It also called for the continuous monitoring of the Web sites in order to preempt other attempts to breach security, as well as the employment of additional security features by installing security plug-ins or add-ons into the back-up files and its complementary security applications, the official added.

In June, 10 PNP Web sites were defaced, including those of the Highway Patrol Group, Police Security and Protection Group, Police Community Relations Group, Directorate for Human Resource and Doctrine Development, Headquarters Support Service, and the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, as well as of Police Regional Offices 9, 13 and 11.

Hackers identified as “Terroriste_Mc,” “Cocain Team” and “Cyb3r- DZ” disabled the username and password of the Web sites’ back-end and front-end pages, the investigation showed.

The same incident occurred in September when the Web sites of PRO 9 and PRO 13 were defaced by the “UrduHack Team” and “LatinHack Team,” Cruz said.

Upon corresponding with allied international organizations against cyber threats, the committee learned that the hackers responsible for the June incidents were Turkish, Iranian and Arabian nationals, while those responsible for the September hacking were Pakistanis and South Americans.

Initial responses performed by the Web administrators of the hacked sites included temporary stoppage of Web service and restoration of their back-up files, Cruz said.

On Nov. 22 to 24, Web administrators of the police sites underwent a seminar to learn the latest updates on security threats and to enable them to defend their sites from cyber attackers.