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House website defacing may be an 'inside job', says official

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<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="A screenshot of the main page of the House of Representatives website on October 15, 2023." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/10/15/house-of-rep-website.jpg"/><figcaption>A screenshot of the main page of the House of Representatives website on October 15, 2023.</figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — The recent defacing of the website of the House of Representatives appears to be an inside job, Secretary General Reginald Velasco said Thursday.</p><p>Velasco told media that while no one has been caught yet in connection with the incident, investigators believed that the email or phone of the website administrators could have been hacked, which then gave attackers access to the website. </p><p>&quot;One of the suspicions was it was an inside job in other words yun nga na-hack yung email or cellphone ng one of the administrators,&quot; Velasco said.</p><p>The website has about 4 or 5 administrators, he noted. </p><p>&quot;Ang suspicion is na-hack yung cellphone o email nitong one of the administrators, so we&#x27;re very careful now.&quot; Velasco added.</p><p>Velasco said those who attacked the website only managed to deface it and failed to get confidential or sensitive data.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/15/23/youve-been-hacked-house-website-defaced-goes-offline">&#x27;You&#x27;ve been hacked&#x27;: House website defaced, goes offline</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/17/23/house-website-down-due-to-suspicious-activity">House takes down website again due to &#x27;suspicious, unusual&#x27; activity</a></li></ul><p><br/> <br/>For this reason, Speaker Martin Romualdez approved the creation of a cybersecurity committee chaired by Velasco to address cybersecurity concerns.</p><p>Velasco said they were planning to tap a third party provider for this, probably by next year.</p><p>&quot;We don&#x27;t really have the necessary expertise and staff kasi ang goal namin is to have our own cybersecurity unit kaysa aasa lang kami sa DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) or sa anti-cybersecurity,&quot; he said said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/08/18/23/cyberattacks-can-remain-undetected-for-a-month-expert">Cyberattacks can remain undetected for a month, says expert</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/business/11/08/23/ai-posing-new-challenges-for-cybersecurity-expert">AI posing new challenges for cybersecurity: expert</a></li></ul><div> </div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2845589" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><div><br/> </div>

The recent defacing of the website of the House of Representatives appears to be an inside job, Secretary General Reginald Velasco said. 