Senate on alert after attack on website

THE Senate is on alert for possible website hacking, a Senate official disclosed on Tuesday, October 17.

«As soon as we learned of the House of Representatives website hacking, our team went on alert and continuous monitoring. The Senate [website] has a perimeter and application firewall, but our tech team also made adjustments,» Senate Secretary Renato Bantug said.

«Per our IT, we recorded a spike in attacks last Sunday,» Bantug added.

On Sunday, the House website was hacked before it went offline in the afternoon.

The website, which appears under congress.gov.ph, was defaced by hackers.

Its photo journals section and its press releases were defaced with a troll face image.

«You've been hacked, You've been hacked. Have a nice day. Happy April Fullz kahit October palang! Fix your website, hacked by 3MUSKETEERZ,» a message appeared on the website.

The press releases and committee schedules on the website were also altered.

The House of Representatives took its website offline also on Tuesday after it detected «suspicious and unusual activities» despite security enhancements.

«We regret to inform the public that the official website of the House of Representatives has been voluntarily taken offline once again. Despite our recent security enhancements, we have detected suspicious and unusual activities that necessitate further scrutiny,» House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.

«This action has been taken as a precautionary measure to double-check and reinforce the cybersecurity measures we have undertaken, ensuring no vulnerabilities remain,» Velasco also said.

«Our primary concern is to guarantee the safety, integrity and reliability of our digital platform for the citizens we serve,» he added.

«We understand the inconvenience this might cause and appreciate the public's patience and understanding as we work diligently to address these concerns. Our commitment to transparency and open communication remains unwavering, and we will provide updates as soon as we have more information,» Velasco said.

On Sunday, the House informed the public that its website experienced unauthorized access.

It announced on Monday that its website was