Hackers are on a roll.
After the Twitter account of the Department of Health, another government page is displaying suspicious activity.
The official Facebook page of Davao City’s Transport and Traffic Management Office (CCTTMO) was compromised around 1 a.m. on April 27, Thursday.
This was announced by the Davao City government on its own Facebook page hours after the hacking.
“CTTMO is now working with concerned offices and agencies to regain control over their [F]acebook page as soon as possible,” the local government unit said.
“We advise the public to ignore any messages, links, and online posts shared by the [F]acebook page. Thank you,” it added.
The issue also reached Pinoys on Twitter, who also raised awareness about the hacking on the short-message social media platform.
“Na-hack? Grabe mga post. Ha ha ha,” tweeted a Filipino on Thursday.
Na hack?
Grabe mga post. Ha ha ha.
City Transport and Traffic Management Office – Davao City https://t.co/2kIGVxRZmQ— Puretuts (@puretuts) April 27, 2023
A cursory look at Davao’s CCTMO page reveals around ten sexually explicit videos of young women all posted with the same caption:
“#FIFAWorldCup2023 (wilted flower and red heart emoji) I miss you (red heart and wilted flower emoji) #EP08 (red heart and wilted flower emoji) i love you”
The Davao CCTMO page has 54,000 followers.
As of this writing, the posts can still be seen on its account.
Other compromised gov’t accounts
The hacking came just days after another government-run account was compromised, but on another platform.
Last week, Twitter users were surprised to read posts about “ethereum” on the DOH’s account.
Some claimed it could be related to cryptocurrency, as ethereum is the basis for the cryptocurrency ether (ETH).
While the DOH said that it has already regained “full control” over its platforms, an unusual tweet about the agency “pump[ing] it” can still be seen as of this writing.
RELATED: ‘DOH will pump it’: Gov’t agency’s unusual tweet earns int’l attention
Earlier this month, the Facebook page of a council under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) was also compromised.
The hacker changed the profile picture of the DOST’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) two times — that of a man carrying a toddler and a woman speaking to an audience.
DOST-PCIEERD was only able to regain control of its Facebook page after over a week.
READ: They’re back: DOST council regains control of Facebook page after hacking | A baby and a face: DOST council’s official page profile pic replaced
All of the hacking happened this month.
On April 18, a cybersecurity researcher revealed that over a million private records from the country’s law enforcement agencies were found to have an unprotected database.
It meant that the records were easily accessible online, putting Filipinos’ personal information at risk.
The records were from the employees and applicants of the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Internal Revenue, PNP’s Special Action Force Operations Management Division, and the Civil Service Commission.
ALSO READ: Calls for accountability raised after reported law enforcement personnel data breach
