DOE’s website downed by cyberattack

Metro Manila, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) on Sunday said it took the Government Energy Management Program (GEMP) website offline after it was “hacked and defaced.”

The cyberattack happened at around 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 27, but the DOE reported the incident on Sunday morning.

“We immediately took the system offline and began closely coordinating with the Philippine National Computer Emergency Response Team, and the system’s developer to address the possible vulnerabilities of the website,” the DOE said.

The agency assured it is “committed to keeping its systems secure and will continue to upgrade these systems.”

“While we are exerting all efforts to restore the website to full operation at the soonest possible time, we are also implementing our strategies to make our systems more resilient,” the DOE added.

The GEMP website has yet to go back online as of posting time.

This was the latest cyberattack on government websites, including recent data breaches on the Philippine Statistics Authority, Department of Science and Technology, and state health insurer PhilHealth.