A government institution blamed malware after its Facebook page posted a lewd photo of a woman on its Stories on Thursday evening.
The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) was the latest victim in the spate of hacked government pages that have happened since April.
The commission on June 15 posted a photo of a woman with a see-through outfit with a text linking to a website through the text “SWIPE UP.”
The Facebook Story earned the attention of Filipino Facebook and Twitter users who posted about the unusual content.
“Halatang manyak mga taga-Komisyon [sa] Wikang Filipino,” a Twitter user wrote, sharing a screengrab of the post.
“Two hours na po na nakababad ang Story sa Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino. Sayang ang buwis na binabayad kung ganito kawalang-silbi ng mga nasa gobyerno,” the user added.
“Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino My Day yarn [‘yan]?? Warning: ‘Wag niyo click ‘yung link dun, or swipe up kasi [dadalhin] kayo nun sa mga malicious webpages…” a Facebook user commented.
By 11:33 p.m., hours after the post, KWF’s director-general released a statement about the issue and said their page was hacked.
“Naging biktima ng cyber/network attack, partikular sa malware na sinususpetsang nakapasok sa sistema at may intensyon na dungisan ang pangalang ng KWF sa pamamagitan ng pagpaskil ng larawan na hindi nararapat na matagpuan sa page at hindi kaugnay sa opisyal na gawain ng aming tanggapan,” KWF director-general Marites Barrios-Taran said.
“Ang malware na ito ay may kakayahang i-bypass ang security protocols na karaniwang hinihingi ng Facebook,” she added.
“Kami ay lubos na humihingi ng paumanhin at pag-unawa sa pangyayaring ito,” Barrios-Taran further said.
She added that they will urgently address the matter with the National Bureau of Investigation‘s Cybercrime Division and the Department of Information and Communications Technology so that the perpetrator will be immediately caught.
“Ginagawa na po namin ang lahat upang maalis ang naturang larawan, ngunit sa ngayon ay hindi pa namin ma-access ang account. Maraming salamat po sa inyong pang-unawa,” Barrios-Taran said in the caption of her post.
As of Friday morning, the government page has posted another sexually explicit photo of a different woman with the same text “SWIPE UP.”
Last May, the Facebook page of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Cotabato Division spammed its followers with breastfeeding videos of women, some of which were dressed in skimpy attire.
It had captions that included phrases like “#FIFAWorldCup2023,” “I miss you,” and “I love you.”
READ: Another hacked gov’t page: DepEd Cotabato spams followers with breastfeeding videos | FB page of Davao transport and traffic office spams followers with lewd videos
It was the exact same words that appeared on the Facebook posts of another page, the Davao City’s Transport and Traffic Management Office (CCTTMO).
Davao’s CCTTMO also posted lewd videos on its Facebook last April.
The same month, the Twitter account of the Department of Health and the Facebook page of a council under the Department of Science and Technology were compromised as well.
RELATED: ‘DOH will pump it’: Gov’t agency’s unusual tweet earns int’l attention | 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
It was also in April when 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.
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