The Philippine Coast Guard Public Affairs Service (CGPAS) regained control of its official Facebook page exactly 5:45AM today, February 29.
After a coordinated effort involving the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) and the PCG Weapons, Communications, Electronics, and Information Systems Command, three hackers have been identified and removed from the platform.
According to PCG, the hackers, operating under the Facebook aliases Fatima Hasan, Murat Kansu, and Vicky Bates, infiltrated the page using malware on February 26. The CICC, in collaboration with CGPAS, took immediate action to neutralize the threat.
Tomorrow, the CICC will conduct a thorough hardware inspection of all CGPAS office devices to eradicate any remaining traces of malware and fortify the agency’s cybersecurity measures.
CG Admiral Ronnie Gil L Gavan also expressed gratitude to DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy for his swift assistance in resolving the issue.