The hacking group that successfully defaced the website of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) last year has shifted its focus from attacking government sites into attacking educational institutions to force website owners to improve the security of their servers.
Websites of Fatima School Bacood, Holy Trinity Academy of Manila, The Nazarene Catholic School, and St. Jude Catholic School were defaced early last week. Just today, February 3, the hacking group Phantom Troupe, the group who taunted the solicitor general by challenging the agency to go after them, defaced the Philippine National Police Academy website and claimed to have accessed the personal information of more than 23 thousand users. In a message to Technews, the hackers said that they would not stop attacking the PNP and its affiliate institutions and agencies until justice is served to the victims of police brutality. The group also said that they would continue to target educational institutions to help systems administrators to secure the servers against foreign hackers.
As of this posting, one of the websites of the Philippine National Police Academy is still showing the footprints left by the hackers. The defaced website contains pictures of recent controversies some members of the Philippine National Police got involved with. The page shows the warning which reads: "This is a warning to the Philippine National Police. We are the Phantom Troupe. We are aware of your mess and it will never be forgiven".
Phantom Troupe was also responsible for hacking colleges and universities at the start of the pandemic to warn school administrators that foreign hackers are attacking teachers and students who are working and learning from home amid the pandemic.
We have informed the PNPA about this incident before posting this update.