DILG probing alleged data breach

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said it was still verifying a reported breach of its system allegedly staged by a hacktivist group.

“Our technical teams and government cybersecurity units are undertaking the appropriate investigative steps,” the DILG said yesterday in a statement.

“Initial checks show our core services remain stable. We have activated containment and security protocols to protect our data while the investigation continues,” it said.

The statement was issued after Deep Web Konek, a cybersecurity monitoring group, issued an alert on the claim of a hacktivist group – known as #HappyGoLuckyPH – that it infiltrated the DILG intranet and downloaded around 400 gigabytes of sensitive data.

The group posted screenshots that claim to show direct access to a DILG data base containing over 113,000 stored files used for local government unit reporting, planning and documentation.

Another image shows data being pulled from DILG servers, hinting that multiple internal platforms were compromised.

“Early verification of the screenshots suggests the data shown resembles genuine operational material based on naming conventions, structure, and the domain sources seen in the download panel,” Deep Web Konek said on their Facebook page.

#HappyGoLuckyPH, Deep Web Konek noted,insists their actions are “pure hacktivism” and claims the breach was meant to call attention to corruption, not to sell or trade stolen data.