Gov't site sets up 'checkpoint', denies hacking

Hours after the Palace denied reported hacks on government websites, the Official Gazette has started running an "e-checkpoint" Thursday. A gray screen now flashes before users logging into gov.ph, with a message noting that they will be shortly redirected to the Official Gazette front page. This comes amid protests against the new Cybercrime Prevention Law, which has sparked a spate of hacking attacks targetting government websites. "We continue to adopt appropriate security measures to ensure the integrity of our websites," Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio "Sonny" Coloma said in a statement. As if telling hackers not to flatter themselves too much, Coloma denied that the websites of the Office of the President and a state news agency had been defaced. "There was a scheduled systems maintenance of the President’s website that lasted for about 5 hours in the morning of Oct. 3," Coloma said. He was reacting to reports that visitors to the Malacañang website got error messages early Wednesday. "During this period, Facebook fans and Twitter followers of the President were duly re-directed and were able to use these social media channels without any interruption," Coloma said. Reports that the Philippine Information Agency website had been hacked are also not true, he added. "There was no actual defacement of the PIA website and at no time was there a service disruption," Coloma said. He admitted, however, that a hacker had accessed the personal email of one of PIA's editors early Oct. 2 and had inserted a link that appeared in one of the news agency's online posts. "This specific irregularity was addressed immediately," Coloma noted. Websites crippled by hackers include the National Telecommunications Commission, the central bank and the Manila Water and Sewerage System. In a separate statement Wednesday, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said that hackers "deprive the broader public of access to much needed government information and services online" . Critics of the Cybercrime Prevention Act should likewise condemn the series of hackings, Lacierda urged. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, meanwhile, has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to hunt down and arrest individuals behind the attacks, reports said. This, as protests against the new law remain ablaze, forcing senators who voted for its passage to vow to fie amendatory bills on contentious provisions, especially libel.