PNA hit by cyber attack, says Andanar

MANILA – Palace Communications Secretary Martin Andanar on Monday said the Philippine News Agency was recently hit by a cyber attack, in what he described as a possible attempt to “sabotage” the state-run news agency.

The PNA recently found itself the subject of criticism after photos surfaced of the agency's blunders in several of its old news stories.

• READ: State-run news agency draws flak anew

Photos circulating on social media showed PNA headlines that apparently included editor's notes and instructions to its staff. These articles were published between January and April 2017.

In a radio interview, Andanar said the cyber attack happened last Friday, wherein the hacker tried to revert the old dashboard of the website.

“Meron kasing isang IP address na pilit pinapasok iyong lumang server, iyong luma, hindi iyong bago…Kasi sa lumang dashboard makikita mo iyong mga palpak noong Philippine News Agency, puwede mong i-trace iyon di ba,” Andanar said.

“Merong gustong kunin na impormasyon o siguro balikan iyong mga mali, iyong mga ganyan ba.”

Andanar added that it has yet to be established whether the person behind the attack was an insider. He said the National Bureau of Investigation’s cybercrime division is now investigating the incident.

What is clear, he said, is that there are people who are out to sabotage the state-run agency to put him and President Rodrigo Duterte in bad light.

“Sino ba iyong ibang gustong gibain dito kung hindi ako, eventually the President, hindi ba? Siyempre under ng PCOO itong PNA so ang dami nating ginagawang reporma, tapos gustong pilit gibain iyong PNA. So, meron talagang gustong gibain ako,” he said.