(File photo)
MANILA – The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is investigating an alleged hacking of a Department of Education (DepEd) regional office, with a threat actor claiming to have accumulated “over 750 GB of data” containing sensitive information of students and teachers.
DICT Assistant Secretary Renato “Aboy” Paraiso said the report is still being verified but has been isolated to a regional office of the DepEd.
“We will update you within the day if this report is verified and its possible extent,” Paraiso said in a message to reporters Wednesday.
DepEd Undersecretary and spokesperson Michael Poa said verification is still ongoing, with all DepEd field offices instructed to run diagnostics and verify a possible hack.
“We will provide information as soon as we get them from our Regional and Division Information Officers,” Poa said.
Earlier, Deep Web Konek — a group of cybersecurity enthusiasts in the Philippines — posted on X, formerly Twitter, a message from a threat actor, alleging to have accumulated 750 gigabytes of sensitive data from DepEd.
The message alleged that the DepEd office of an unrevealed area in the Philippines was hacked and while the threat actors said they had no intention of leaking the data they collected, they might “offer some curated data in the future.” (PNA)
