Three suspected hackers, including an officer of the Philippine Navy (PN), have been arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
NBI Director Jaime B. Santiago on Thursday, July 18, presented before the media the three suspects who are alleged members of the Blood Sec International (BSI) and who were arrested during operations conducted in Metro Manila and Cagayan de Oro City last July 16.
The suspects reportedly hacked the systems of the PN and the New Era University.
Two of the suspected hackers were identified as Daniel Xavier Valdez and Anikin Luke Abales. The third suspect, a PN officer, was not identified due to an ongoing investigation.
Valdez has been charged with violation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 under Republic Act No. 10175 for allegedly hacking the system of the New Era University, while Abales was charged with violations of RA 10175 and RA 10173, the Data Privacy Act of 2012, for reportedly hacking PN's system.
“Isang grupo sila. Sila rin ang responsible kung matatandaan n’yo 2016 Comelec hacking (They are one group. They are responsible for the 2016 hacking of the Commission on Elections),” Santiago said. .
He also said that Valdez has admitted to be the founder of the group.
NBI Cybercrime Division (NBI-CCD) Chief Jeremy C. Lotoc said the operation was an offshot of the arrest of suspected hackers in Tagaytay City last July 8.
During the controlled viewing of one of the phones of those arrested in Tagaytay, Lotoc said it was found that there was communication with a hacker who was found later to be a member of PN.
Through the help of the PN, the NBI was able to identify that the suspected hacker was the Navy officer, Lotoc also said.
He said the mobile phone of the PN member showed that it has a directory scanner. "The directory scanner has the capability to scan secret files, directory, etcetera sa system ng ating Philippine Navy,” he explained.
When investigators dug deeper, Lotoc disclosed that it was found that the directory scanner remained active and that the Navy man was also in constant communication with a person who was later found to be Valdez.
“So naghatch kami ng arrest operation ito nga sa founder ng BSI (So we hatched an operation to arrest the founder of the BSI),” he said.
Valdez was arrested in Cubao, Quezon City following a brief chase with the NBI.
“At the same time meron din member ang BSI na ito na nasa CDO and apparently ang participation n’ya he was the one in possession of the access code (At the same time, we discovered another member of the BSI in Cagayan de Oro City and apparently his participation in the hacking was that he has possession of the source code),” Lotoc noted.
New Era University representatives said what was breached was the school’s data processing system.
PN Spokesperson Commander John Percie Alcos assured that what the suspected hackers accessed were open source information already publicly made available during press conferences of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Valdez claimed that since 2020 he has not been doing illegal activities. He alleged that he was asked by his member to test the system of the Philippine Navy.
After conducting the tests, Valdez said he contacted his member at the PN and “binigay ko information paano i-fix, paano ayusin ang mga vulnerabilitites, ano mga possible na pampalakas sa security (I gave the information how to fix the vulnarabilities and how to strengthen security).”
“Humihingi po ako ng pasensya sa ating Philippine Navy at ating Philippine Army sa pagdeface at sa pagtest without papers (I apologize to the Philippine Navy and Philippine Army for defacing and testing without papers),” said Valdez who admitted what he did had no approval from military officials.