Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 17) — The House of Representatives on Tuesday took down its website anew after “suspicious and unusual activities” were detected, just two days after it was hacked last Sunday.
“We regret to inform the public that the official website of the House of Representatives has been voluntarily taken off once again,” the lower chamber said in a statement. “Despite our recent enhancements, we have detected suspicious and unusual activities that necessitate further scrutiny,”
“This action has been taken as a precautionary measure to double-check and reinforce the cybersecurity measures we have undertaken, ensuring no vulnerabilities remain,” it added.
After a series of data breaches involving the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation and the Philippine Statistics Authority, the website of the lower chamber became the latest victim.
On Sunday morning, the House’s homepage showed a troll face meme, with the statement: “You’ve been hacked. Have a nice day. Happy April Fullz Kahit October palang! Fix your Website.”
READ: House website hacked
Meanwhile, the Senate is also “on alert” after seeing a surge in cyberattacks last Sunday.
“As soon as we learned of the HRep website hacking, our team went on alert and continuous monitoring,” Senate Secretary Renato Bantug Jr. said in a statement.
Bantug said the Senate already has an application firewall, which helps protect the website, but its technology team “made adjustments” to bolster security.
“Per our IT, we recorded a spike in attacks last Sunday,” he added.
