The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) has attributed the posting of a lewd photo of a woman on its Facebook Stories to a malware attack that occurred on Thursday evening. The KWF joins the list of government pages that have fallen victim to hacking incidents since April.
On June 15, the commission, which regulates Tagalog and other Philippine languages, uploaded a photo of a woman wearing a see-through outfit accompanied by a text urging viewers to “SWIPE UP” for a website link. Filipino Facebook and Twitter users quickly took notice of the unusual content and shared their thoughts.
One Twitter user remarked, “The people at Komisyon [sa] Wikang Filipino are perverts,” alongside a screenshot of the post. Another Facebook user warned, “Is that really Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino’s My Day? Warning: Don’t click on the link or swipe up because it will lead you to malicious webpages.”
Several hours after the post, at 11:33pm, KWF’s director-general issued a statement acknowledging that their page had been hacked. Director-General Marites Barrios-Taran explained, “We fell victim to a cyber/network attack, particularly involving malware that infiltrated our system with the intention of tarnishing the KWF’s reputation by posting an inappropriate image unrelated to the official work of our office.” She further noted that the malware had the ability to bypass Facebook’s security protocols.
Barrios-Taran expressed deep apologies and called for understanding regarding the incident. She stated that they would promptly address the matter with the Cybercrime Division of the National Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Information and Communications Technology to ensure swift identification and capture of the perpetrator.
In a similar incident last May, the Facebook page of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Cotabato Division was compromised, leading to the spamming of breastfeeding videos featuring women, some of whom were scantily dressed. The captions accompanying these videos included phrases like “#FIFAWorldCup2023,” “I miss you,” and “I love you.”
