Hacktivists attack LGU, PNP sites over Sabah dispute

Published March 14, 2013 9:04am

After attacking the website of the Office of the President, hacktivists on Thursday claimed to have defaced at least seven government sites to protest what they called President Benigno Aquino III's inaction on the violence in Sabah. In a post on social networking site Facebook early Thursday morning, Anonymous Philippines listed the defaced sites where it left a message for Aquino.

A screenshot of one of at least six local government unit websites defaced by hacktivist group Anonymous Philippines as of 8:35 a.m. Thursday. The hacktivist group also defaced the Office of the President website earlier Thursday. The group criticized what it called the Aquino administration's lack of action to address alleged rights abuses by Malaysia on Filipinos in Sabah.

"You did nothing while our fellow brothers are being butchered by the Malaysian forces, and while our women and children become subject of human rights abuses. If you can’t act on the issue as the Philippine President, at least do something as a fellow Filipino. We are watching," read the message on the defaced sites. The defaced sites featured a black background and the logo of a headless person, symbolizing the hacktivist collective Anonymous. Since March 5, Malaysian security forces had gone all-out against followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III in Sabah. Many Filipinos living there had fled to Mindanao, but claimed Malaysian forces committed rights abuses against villagers during the operations against Kiram's followers. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs has asked Malaysia to clarify the matter, even as Malaysian officials denied committing rights abuses. Anonymous Philippines also claimed responsibility for an attack and defacement of the Office of the President website (op 1.president.gov.ph) earlier Thursday. Other sites defaced Of the seven sites Anonymous Philippines claimed to have defaced, only the Philippine National Police Directorate for Research and Development's site (http://www.drd.pnp.gov.ph/) appeared to have taken action as of 8 a.m. The other defaced sites are:

http://www.gdelpilar.gov.ph/ http://www.calasiao.gov.ph/ http://bolinao.gov.ph/ http://mauban.gov.ph/ http://apayao.gov.ph/ http://www.mauban.gov.ph/

In the message on the defaced sites, Anonymous Philippines said it watched how he [Aquino] signed into law the Anti-Cybercrime Act of 2012, which it said "endangers and tramples upon the netizens’ freedom of speech and expression." "Now, we are silent witnesses as to how you are mishandling the Sabah issue," it said. The group also said it did not engage pro-Malaysian hackers who defaced Philippine sites "since we expected you to appropriately and judiciously act on the same, but you failed us." — LBG, GMA News

Tags: hacker, hackingsabahstandoff, hackingsabahciris