The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has finally regained control of its Facebook page three days after it was hacked.
PCG spokesperson Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said they were able take control of their Facebook page at 5:45 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 29 with the help of experts from the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) under the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
“We work with them in conducting backend operations, leading to the discovery and this led to the discovery and removal of three hackers,” said Balilo.
The hackers’ Facebook names are Fatima Hasan, Murat Kansu, and Vicky Bates
Based on the investigation, Balilo said the hackers utilized malware to breach the Facebook page's security on Monday, Feb. 26.
This was the third time that the PCG’ website and social media accounts were hacked—the first was its website, followed by its X (formerly Twitter) account.
Balilo earlier said that there was no sensitive data compromised as a result of the hacking since they are only posting information related to the PCG’s information drive.
Following the incident, he said the CICC will conduct a comprehensive hardware check on all office laptops and computers of all PCG personnel that are being used to access their official social media platforms.
“The intention is to remove remaining traces of malware, if any, and strengthen its overall cybersecurity against potential breaches,” said Balilo.