MANILA, Philippines — The Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino said in a statement late Thursday that its Facebook page was hacked through a coordinated “cyber/network” attack aiming to tarnish the name of the institution.
In its advisory, KWF apologized to the public for the posting of indecent photos on its page, according to a news update by News5.
Naglabas ng pahayag ang Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) kaugnay ng hacking incident sa Facebook account nito kagabi, June 15. Humingi ng paumanhin at pag-unawa ang komisyon sa publiko, lalo na sa mga nakakita sa nakapaskil na larawan sa page nito. #News5
????: KWF (Facebook) pic.twitter.com/tmYForSysy— News5 (@News5PH) June 16, 2023
The KWF said that it suspects this to be caused by “malware that possibly entered the system with the intention of damaging the name of KWF through the posting of photos that are not appropriate and not related to our official mandate."
As of this story's posting, the KWF Facebook page shows posts related to the commission's mandate, although its Stories feature shows indecent content.
In a statement signed by KWF Director-General Marites Barrios-Taran, the commission said it has since brought up the reported hacking incident to the National Bureau of Investigation's Cybercrime Division and to the Department of Information and Communication Technology to identify the persons responsible for bypassing its account.
The KWF is just the latest government agency whose Facebook pages fell into the hands of alleged hackers. In April and May, the pages of Digos City's tourism office, the Department of Education Cotabato and an office under the Department of Science and Technology were also compromised and made to post content unrelated to its functions as government offices. — Cristina Chi