PCG regains control of hacked Facebook page

March 1, 2024 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has regained control of its official Facebook page three days after it was hacked.

PCG spokesman Rear Admiral Armand Balilo said the Coast Guard Public Affairs Service (CGPAS) recovered full access to the Facebook page at 5:45 a.m. yesterday.

Several movie clips had been posted on the Facebook page since it was hacked at around 6 p.m. on Monday, Balilo said.

Investigation conducted by the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) under the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) showed that three hackers using the Facebook names “Fatima Hasan,” “Murat Kansu” and “Vicky Bates” tampered with the PCG’s social media account.

The PCG continues to coordinate with the DICT to determine the real identities of the hackers.

“The CICC confirmed that the hackers used malware to breach the Facebook page’s security on Feb. 26,” Balilo said.

The CICC is scheduled to conduct today a comprehensive hardware check on all office laptops and computers of the CGPAS personnel, to remove remaining traces of malware, if any, and strengthen its overall cybersecurity against potential breaches.

This was the third time that the PCG’s social media accounts was compromised.

The first was the PCG’s website followed by its X account.