A council under the Department of Science and Technology urged its followers to report any “odd” online posts or behavior that its Facebook page may initiate following its hacking last week.
The DOST’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) on Saturday informed the public that its official Facebook page was compromised at midnight on April 7.
The council said that it has already notified Meta, Facebook’s parent company, about the incident and is “working closely” with the tech giant to regain access and control over its page.
“We are aware of the value of our Facebook page to our clients who want to stay in touch. We want to reassure you that we are making every effort to resolve the problem as soon as possible. Data security for our clients is a key concern for us,” the council said in a statement on April 8.
“We acknowledge that the page breach may have alarmed and perplexed some of our followers. Yet our services, client information, and systems we deploy were unaffected by this problem. We will continue to provide the same level of attention and support to our stakeholders,” the DOST-PCIEERD added.
It also asked its followers to be wary of any “odd” online posts or behavior that its Facebook page might initiate.
The council urged the public to report the posts immediately to them or to Facebook itself.
“We are committed to ensuring that this matter is resolved quickly, effectively, and with the utmost regard for PCIEERD’s core values: integrity, innovation, and excellence. Thank you for your understanding and continued support,” it said.
Facebook users can report a content by clicking the three dots in the upper right corner of the post and selecting the option “Report Post” or “Report Photo,” among others.
They can flag it for nudity, violence, harassment, suicide or self-injury, false information, spam, unauthorized sales, hate speech, terrorism, or something else.
The “Something Else” option will lead them to the following options: Intellectual Property, fraud or scam, privacy violation, mocking victims, bullying, child abuse, animal abuse, sexual activity, suicide or self-injury, hate speech, promoting drug use, non-consensual intimate images, sexual exploitation, harassment, unauthorized sales, violence, or sharing private images.
So far, the DOST-PCIEERD’s page has uploaded photos of a man carrying a toddler and a woman speaking at an event as its profile pictures. It currently features the latter.
Similar to the previously uploaded picture of the man with the toddler, the profile picture has no caption.
The page first gained attention on April 7, a Good Friday, after it changed its profile picture to that of a man.
ALSO READ: A baby and a face: DOST council’s official page profile pic replaced
In a now-deleted post, the DOST-PCIEERD said the public could report any suspicious activity on its page by messaging them at [email protected].
