The Senate on Thursday confirmed that its official website was subjected to an unauthorized modification, commonly known as a “website defacement.“
In a statement, the Senate Electronic Data Processing and Management Information System Bureau (EDP-MIS) said the website experienced an unauthorized modification, prompting an investigation and the implementation of additional security measures.
“We would like to inform the public that the Senate website was recently subjected to an unauthorized modification, commonly referred to as a website defacement,” the bureau said.
According to the EDP-MIS, the technical team contained the issue and launched a comprehensive investigation to determine the cause and extent of the unauthorized activity.
“Upon detection of the incident, our technical team immediately initiated security protocols, contained the issue, and commenced a comprehensive investigation to determine the cause and extent of the unauthorized activity,” the Senate said.
The bureau also announced that additional security measures are being implemented to prevent similar incidents in the future.
“Additional security measures are also being implemented to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future,” it added.
Based on its initial assessment, the Senate said there is no indication that any confidential or sensitive information was compromised during the incident.
The Senate noted that its website primarily contains publicly available documents and informational materials intended for public access.
“We assure the public that protecting the integrity and availability of our systems remains a top priority. We continue to closely monitor the situation and will provide updates as necessary,” the bureau said.
The confirmation came after a series of unusual posts appeared under the “News Release” section of the Senate website, fueling speculation that the site had been compromised.
Among the posts published on June 10 and June 11 were messages carrying the names “Angelica” and “Ashley.” One post read, “Your system has been tralalelo tralala,” while another stated, “Angelica X Ashley, please patch your system ;pp,” and included a link to a Facebook profile.
A separate post carried the message, “Your System Has Been Tralalelo Tralala < 3,” while another simply read, “Angelica X Ashley.”
The Senate website is “under maintenance” after a group claiming to be “Nullsec Philippines” alleged that it had defaced a page on the institution’s official website.
