The official website of the House of Representatives was hacked by a certain "3MUSKETEERZ" on Sunday, Oct. 15.
Under the photo journal section in the lower house’s website, a troll photo with a text “you’ve been hacked. you’ve been hacked. have a nice day” was uploaded.
Below the photo is the caption that said “HAPPY APRIL FULLZ KAHIT OCTOBER PALANG! HACKED BY 3MUSKETEERZ” and a time stamp “15-Oct-2023 || 11:31 AM”.
In an official statement, House Secretary-General Reginald Velasco said "immediate steps have been taken to address the issue."
"We are working closely with the Department of Information and Communications Technology and law enforcement agencies to investigate the matter," he added.
As of this posting, the lower house's website is down.
Velasco asked for the "patience and understanding of the public while the full restoration of the website is at work.
"For the moment, we advise the public to be catious of any suspicious emails or communications that claim to be from the House of Representatives," he said.
"We are committed to ensure the security and integrity of our digital platforms, and we will implement additional measure to prevent such incidents in the future," the House Secretary-General furthered.
Basahin> official statement ng House of Representatives sa pamamagitan ni House Sec Gen Reginald Velasco sa hacking incident sa website ng HRep @dzrhnews pic.twitter.com/O49bEr1Ipk
— milky rigonan 💋 (@milkyrigonan) October 15, 2023
The House of Representatives is now the fourth government agency that has experienced a cyberattack this year.
In September, a ransomware attacked Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
Last week, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) confirmed that some data in its system were breached.
The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) also announced that some data resembling those from its OneExpert portal was leaked on a social media.