The Supreme Court (SC) has started validating reports of data breach that reportedly compromised more than 13,000 records in its processes as posted in social media.
Spokesperson Camille Sue Mae L. Ting, a lawyer, assured on Wednesday, Aug. 28, that “all processes of the Court, including the Bar exams, are secure.”
Ting said “the SC has invested in cybersecurity for its data and will continue to do so as we digitalize our processes.”
The reported data breach in the SC’s processes happened last Tuesday, Aug. 27, the day when Ting said, in a press conference, that the High Court has “a very robust anti-hacking application.”
During the media briefing, Ting said: “So security is very, I say strong. Until now, I’d like to say and very proud that the SC has not been hacked.”
Ting’s statement was a response to a question on how the SC can ensure that the protection of cases and data with the implementation of the mandatory submission of electronic copies of pleadings and other court submissions before the trial courts.
Later, Ting admitted: “There is a first time for everything.”
Later in the afternoon last Aug. 27, Deep Web Konek, a group that monitors Dark Web activities in the Philippines and describes itself as cybersecurity enthusiasts, posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that “a major security exposed sensitive legal data from the Supreme Court. Over 13,000 records including names, case details, and payment info, were leaked.”
Also tagged by Deep Web Konek in its post was the account of the SC’s Public Information Office (SC-PIO). It said that a hacker group known as “Grep” has claimed responsibility for the breach.
Kukublan Philippines, the media arm of Deep Web Konek, said in its post that the breach has exposed 13,564 records.
It said the breach covered a wide range of legal proceedings and applications like “Assessment Numbers: Unique identifiers linked to legal cases and applications; Full Names: Personal details of individuals involved in legal matters; Case Categories and Types: Information related to the nature of the legal cases; Payment Statuses: Details indicating whether fees associated with the cases have been paid.”