Lacson sees extortion as possible motive in Smartmatic hacking

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential aspirant Senator Panfilo Lacson said Saturday that his cybersecurity team at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) also found that the system of the poll body’s software contractor, Smartmatic, was indeed compromised, possibly for the purpose of extortion.

According to Lacson, each political party has representatives at the Comelec to ensure the credibility of the elections.

READ: Lacson camp’s cybersecurity team probes hacking of Comelec servers

“Nagband together kami, NPC (Nationalist People’s Coalition), NUP (National Unity Party), tsaka Partido Reporma. ‘Yung sa akin… alam namin talaga. Mga cybersecurity experts ‘yung aming nakuha, talagang expert sila in the field. Hindi ko nga lang naibalita sa media sa Senado, noon pa man, ‘yun na ang initial findings nila,” Lacson said in an interview with DWIZ.

(The NPC, NUP, and Partido Reporma have banded together. My team… knew it. We hired cybersecurity experts. I was just not able to report it to Senate media but that was also their initial findings.)

“‘Yung sinasabi na walang hacking na nangyari, sinabi nila sa akin na meron, dahil may pattern. I think the first na nakita nila, November 2021 ganyan din ang nangyari last year,” he added.

(When they said there was no hacking, my technical team told me that there was indeed hacking, because there was a pattern. I think the first incident they saw was in November 2021.)

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, an attached agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, earlier confirmed that the system of Smartmatic, and not the Comelec’s server as reported by Manila Bulletin, was compromised.

READ: Comelec servers not hacked, but Smartmatic system ‘compromised’ – CICC

Lacson said this was the same information that his technical team has obtained. However, he warned that the breach in the Smartmatic system could later affect the Comelec. He also said that the hackers may be aiming to extort from Smartmatic.

“Kapag nag-interface, at siguradong mag-iinterface ang Comelec at Smartmatic, compromised ang Smartmatic, compromised din ang Comelec,” the senator said,

(When the two systems interface, Comelec will also be compromised because Smartmatic is compromised.)

“Hindi naman talaga ang Comelec ang nahack, ang hinack talaga ay Smartmatic. Ang purpose, initial, ang alam naming motive base sa findings ng aming team, ang motive parang ‘yung sa BDO (Banco de Oro), they extort, e-exortan ang Smartmatic, tatakutin,” he added.

(It was not Comelec that was hacked but Smartmatic. Initially, based on the team’s findings, the motive may be similar to the BDO incident. The hackers will extort from Smartmatic and scare them.)

However, Lacson said the possible motive of extortion is “not gospel truth” and is only the “initial analysis” of their team.

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