Office of Civil Defense’s Twitter account hacked

The official Twitter account of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) was hacked on Sunday, November 14, the agency confirmed, after “unusual” tweets had been posted using the government account. 

“We regret to inform the public that the Civil Defense PH Twitter account has been hacked. This is the reason why unusual tweets referring to matters not related tot he Philippines’ disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) system had been appearing today,” the OCD said in a statement. 

The OCD said its information technology specialists were working to get its Twitter account “back to normal at the soonest possible time.”

The OCD likewise apologized to the public for the incident and gave assurances that DRRM services, as well as information drives, would continue. 

The hacking of the OCD’s Twitter account is the latest in a series of security breaches encountered on government websites and accounts. Days ago, the Department of Foreign Affairs took down its online passport tracking system after after learning about issues related to the security of the public’s data on its website. 

In May 2021, Rest of the World reported that UK security company TurgenSec identified the data exposure of some 345,000 sensitive court documents from the Office of the Solicitor General of the Philippines for at least two months. The information, it added, “could have been accessed by anyone who knew where to look.” – Rappler.com