NBI has leads on gov't website hackers –Malacañang

A day before the Temporary Restraining Order on the controversial Cybercrime Prevention Act is set to expire, a Palace Spokesperson revealed that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has leads on the hackers that have defaced government websites in protest against the Act.

 

"The NBI has some people in mind already as to who launched the hacking forays into government websites," Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a briefing Monday.

 

Lacierda however noted that he has yet to be appraised as to the NBI’s plans regarding the identified hackers, but maintained that the administration is in constant contact with the relevant offices to formulate action plans.

 

“Let me check with the NBI if there were some actions taken as a result of being able to identify some personalities or individuals concerned,” he said.

 

“There was some planned program of action taken and we’re going to study it,” he added.

 

Lacierda however assured the public that the administration is taking pains to secure government websites, in particular those not hosted by the Department of Science and Technology.

 

“They’re (NBI) coming up with a plan [on] how to strengthen the firewall [and] security of government websites. There were some suggestions. Some of the government websites are not hosted by government. Those that are hosted by DOST are secured [but] some government websites are hosted by private entities and there has been a suggestion to move them, migrate their hosting to government,” Lacierda said.

 

Meanwhile, Lacierda maintained that insofar as the administration is concerned, the law is still defensible in court.

 

“Let’s wait for the decision of the Supreme Court. The position taken by the Office of the  Solicitor General is that the take down clause is unconstitutional but, with respect to the other issues, the Solicitor General posited the position that they are defensible. So let’s wait and see,” Lacierda said.

 

RA 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 was implemented last September, and includes controversial provisions on online libel.

 

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear the arguments for and against the controversial measure, which has been protested by at least 15 different groups. — TJD, GMA News