MANILA, Philippines — Following the alleged hacking in the Senate website this week, the Senate of the Philippines said that only documents that are meant for public consumption were accessed by the hackers.
“Access was gained over documents such as transcripts of committee hearings, journals of plenary sessions, and other legislative documents which are intended for public consumption. No sensitive or confidential data was affected. In fact, the Senate, upon request, grants access to anyone who wishes to download these documents,” the Senate said in its statement.
The usernames and logs allegedly taken from the Senate SharePoint site are simply the accounts used to upload public documents. The logs contain basic metadata, such as upload dates and file sizes, which do not present any substantial security risk, it said.
“We therefore confirm the statement of DICT Assistant Secretary Renato Paraiso that the incident is not cause for alarm,” it said.
The Senate remains committed to safeguarding its website through continued efforts and strong cybersecurity measures.
This is not the first time that a government website was subjected to hacking. Over the past months, government agencies including the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the Philippine Coast Guard were hacked.
