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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Hacked: OCD posts 'unusual' tweets on official Twitter account; agency probes

Hacked: OCD posts 'unusual' tweets on official Twitter account; agency probes

Published Nov 14, 2021 12:11 pm

The official Twitter account of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) was hacked on Sunday midnight, Nov. 14, putting a spotlight on mounting concerns about the vulnerability of government agencies to such attacks and their ability to respond immediately.

Office of Civil Defense

The OCD’s verified Twitter account @civildefensePH posted at least five tweets about cryptocurrency and bitcoin on the Twitter pages of billionaire businessman Elon Musk and his aerospace company, SpaceX.

The OCD also changed its Twitter name from “Office of Civil Defense” to “Elon Muskx” and its profile picture to the photo that is the same as Musk’s Twitter profile.

OCD spokesperson Mark Timbal said the agency has already launched an investigation about the incident.

“We have communicated with Twitter about this and are now waiting for an update on their action,” Timbal told the Manila Bulletin.

“Our tech support team is on it. I will advise of developments,” he added.

As of Sunday noon, the OCD’s Twitter name has since been deleted and changed to “.” as well as the photo but the unusual tweets were still on its account.

"Despite the security measures that we used, nalusutan pa rin (we were still breached)," he said.

As this story developed, the OCD issued an official statement on the incident at noontime.

(Office of Civil Defense)

"We regret to inform the public that the Civil Defense PH Twitter account has been hacked. This is the reason why unusual tweets referring to matters not related to the Philippines' disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) system had been appearing today," it said.

"We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused and we assure our people that that DRRM-related services continue along with our usual information dissemination drives to promote public safety and preparedness against hazards and disasters," it added.

This was not the first time that the OCD was targeted by hackers.

Back in 2011, the website of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) was also reportedly breached by a group of hackers named “Cocain Team” where viewers were redirected to a map of Central Asia and Arabian Gulf whenever they tried to access it.

The OCD is the implementing arm of NDRRMC.

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