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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider New 'Friendster' website possibly being used for phishing, DICT warns

New 'Friendster' website possibly being used for phishing, DICT warns

Published Nov 29, 2022 09:22 pm

Filipinos were warned against clicking suspicious links and logging into unverified websites following unreliable claims that Friendster, a social networking site that ended its services in 2015, has finally returned.

Is Friendster back? The Department of Information and Communications Technology’s National Computer Emergency Response Team (DICT-NCERT) said no.

(DICT-NCERT)

“Upon initial investigation, the current IP address hosting the website had previous reports about phishing, brute force, and DDoS attacks, hacking, and host exploitations. The link uses a non-popular top-level domain. Also, it does not include an “About Us” page which could tell who developed the website,” said DICT-NCERT in an advisory on Tuesday, Nov. 29.

Meanwhile, the team likewise pointed out that the website uses WordPress, a free and open-source content management system, for its main service. This, according to DICT-NCERT, is not usually “used for social networking platforms.”

Phishing, on the other hand, is an attempt by cybercriminals to steal targeted users’ information, data, as well as credentials.

Recommended actions

In order to avoid potential threats, DICT-NCERT urged the public to simply avoid clicking suspicious links.

Apart from this, the department advised Filipinos to refrain from logging into unverified websites, warning that users’ data may be compromised.

Related Tags

phishing scam Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) PHISHING friendster social network cyberattack
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