House takes down website again due to new suspicious, unusual activities
This photo shows the defaced website of the House of Representatives on Sunday, October 15, 2023. (Screen grab from HOR website)
MANILA, Philippines — The website of the House of Representatives has been taken down again after new suspicious and unusual activities were seen, Secretary General Reginald Velasco announced.
In a statement on Tuesday, Velasco said that they voluntarily took down the website as a precautionary measure.
This comes just hours after the website was restored.
It was defaced over the weekend by supposed hackers.
“We regret to inform the public that the official website of the House of Representatives has been voluntarily taken offline once again,” Velasco said.
Article continues after this advertisement“Despite our recent security enhancements, we have detected suspicious and unusual activities that necessitate further scrutiny,” he reported.
Article continues after this advertisement“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 explained.
“Our primary concern is to guarantee the safety, integrity, and reliability of our digital platform for the citizens we serve,” he added.
Velasco appealed for the public’s understanding as House works to resolve such issues.
In an interview on Monday, the secretary general said they have coordinated with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
The Department had pointed out several vulnerabilities to the computer systems of the chamber.
After meetings, Velasco relayed the consensus was to look at hiring third-party firms that will be tasked to beef up their cybersecurity capabilities.
He said hiring a third-party firm maybe the quickest solution since House is short on hiring information technology (IT) experts.
The restoration efforts came after the homepage of the website, particularly a section showing photo journals, was defaced by supposed hackers.
A troll face was placed on the homepage, with the hackers going by the name ~3MUSKETEERZ.
The hackers urged the House to fix its website.
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