DA confirms hack on its attached agency; says hacker gained no sensitive data
By Jel Santos

The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Thursday, June 13, confirmed that the website of its attached agency, Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), was hacked on June 9.
Earlier, the Manila Bulletin reported that the hacking group Ph1ns gained unauthorized access to the ACPC’s internal systems. This group was also responsible for various hack attacks on government agencies, notably the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa, the spokesperson of the DA, said the ACPC assured them that no sensitive information was obtained by the hacking group.
“Inasure kami ng ACPC na lahat ng mga kliyente at ng mga data nila remains secured. Nangyari ‘yung unauthorized access noong June 9 ( The ACPC assured us that all clients and their data remain secured. The unauthorized access occurred on June 9),” he said during a phone interview.
“Walang sensitive information [na nakuha]. Na-secure naman. Secured lahat ng information (No sensitive information was taken. Everything has been secured. All information is secure),” the spokesperson stressed.
Necessary measures, according to De Mesa, were taken to protect the ACPC system and fix the security standard protocol after the breach.
“So wala namang data na na-compromise (So no data was compromised),” he added.
The DA has directed its Information and Communications Technology Service (ICTS) to support the department's agencies in protecting their websites from potential hacking attempts.
“Una, binigyan ng instruction ‘yung ICTS na tulungan ‘yung mga agency within the Department na ma-protektahan laban sa mga hacker (First, instructions were given to the ICTS to help the agencies within the Department protect themselves against hackers),” said De Mesa.
The DA has 16 regional offices; nine bureaus; eight attached agencies; nine attached corporations; and nine foreign agriculture service corporations.
The ACPC was established in 1986 under Executive Order 113 to aid the DA by coordinating all credit policies and programs aligned with the DA’s priority initiatives.
Its responsibilities included reviewing and evaluating the economic viability of all current and proposed agricultural credit programs, regardless of their funding sources.
As such, the ACPC was tasked with implementing measures to increase its funding base and introducing mechanisms for liquidity, interest stabilization, and risk coverage for its financing programs.
In 1987, through Executive Order 116, the ACPC became an attached agency of the agriculture department.