The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Cybercrime Division arrested an Information and Technology (IT) officer for hacking websites of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), National Security Council, and several banks.
The suspect claims that Art Samaniego, Manila Bulletin's IT Editor, instructed him to hack the aformentioned websites to use as contents for his columns and social media platforms. Instructions were given back in 2019, after the IT officer was hired by Manila Bulletin. One of the last orders he received was to hack the political coalition application, 1Sambayan, so he could immediately write about its vulnerabilities.
“During investigation din namin nakita na sa bawat incident, itong editor na ito siya ang nauunang mag-post ng article about the hacking incident. Nakita namin ‘yung pattern at according sa ating hacker, nung hinack nila ang AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) at NSC (National Security Council), that was the directive ng editor na yon (During our investigation, we saw how this editor was always the first to post an article about the hacking incident. We identified that pattern, and according to our hacker, when they hacked the AFP and NSC, it was done based on the editor's directive),” said the NBI Cybercrime Division chief, Atty. Jeremy Lotoc.
The NBI confirmed that they are currently investigating the involvement of the arrested personnel, as he was said to be a member of the LulzSec hacking group.
Samaniego denies all the accusations, adding how he has been a long time partner of government agencies in cyber security.
The Manila Bulletin uploaded a response to the incident through a Facebook post earlier today.
