DOH website hacked

Tuesday, 29 December 2009 17:29 Mikhaela De Leon

A wholesome photo of Health secretary Francisco Duque blowing a paper horn which appeared on the agency's website was altered by alleged hackers on Monday, replacing the trumpet with what looked like a bunch of male genitalia.

In the original photo, the health chief demonstrated the use of paper horns as safer alternatives to firecrackers for the celebration of the new year. The trumpet Duque was holding was edited out and the hacked page showed Duque holding instead, "a bunch of penises."

An image of the male genitalia was also placed as an inset to the website's "Current DOH advisories page" accompanied by "Happy New Year!!! Dont Use Firecrackers!!! Use Penis" in bold print.

Following the obscene images, the hackers also hurled insinuations at Duque, saying that he had been using recent controversial health issues such as the A(H1N1) scare and the tropical strom "Ondoy" to keep himself visible in the news.

"Malamang laking pasasalamat ni Duque ng mauso ang H1N1, dengue, etc. aba'y araw-araw lumalabas ang kanyang commercial (Duque must be really thankful for the H1N1, dengue and other health scares. His commercial is played on TV everyday)," text on the fake website read.

As of this posting, the DOH website cannot be accessed. According to GMAnews.tv, the agency took down the fake page after the media bureau called its office for comment.

Meanwhile, DOH Informations System Analayst Carolina dela Cruz confirmed that their site was indeed hacked.

"Wala kaming ginagawang ganitong page. Siguradong napasok ito. Nagcreate sila ng bagong page na hindi naglolog-in sa administrator. So backdoor ang ginamit dito (We did not create this page. I'm sure the site was penetrated [by hackers]. They created a new page without logging in as an administrator. They probably used the backdoor.)," she explained.

According to blogger Tonyo Cruz on Asian Correspondent, this was not the first time that government websites have been hacked.

In January 3, 2008, hackers redirected the websites of the Department of Justice, Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Information Technology and Electronic Commerce Council to the website of theme park Enchanted Kingdom.

The justice department is investigating the incident.