DOH web advisories hacked, filled with obscenities

The Department of Health web site was hacked by unidentified perpetrators, filling a key page with an obscene image and defamatory statements about Health Secretary Francisco Duque III at a time when the public most needed its online advice about firecrackers and holiday health hazards. The DOH took down the page with the obscenities after GMANews.TV called it for comment. This appears to be the second hacking incident this month. The first hacked page was a milder version of what GMANews.TV saw this morning. An image of a penis was placed as an inset in a photo of Duque on the website's "Current DOH advisories" page. Plastic trumpets that Duque was blowing in the photo were edited out and replaced by a bunch of penises. In large font, the hacked page contained its own health advice: "Don't use firecrackers!!! Use penis."

The offensive images were followed by text written in Filipino insinuating that Duque has been using issues such as the A(H1N1) Influenza and tropical storm "Ondoy" to keep himself in the news. "Malamang laking pasalamat ni Duque ng mauso ang H1N1, dengue, etc aba'y araw-araw lumalabas ang kanyang commercial!" the text on the DOH page read. More photos followed, including an image of massacre suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr. and of several politicians running for the presidential and vice presidential posts. Accompanying text denounced corruption. "Magsisimula ang pagbabago mismo sa sarili natin. Para sa akin kasama sa corruption ang simpleng kickback sa allowance, tuition na hinihingi sa magulang, ang pag sosobra ng presyo sa mga tinitinda sa kalsada at madami pang maliliit na bagay na sa tingin ng iba ay hindi corruption," the fake DOH page said. The DOH confirmed that their site was hacked and will investigate how it happened. "Wala kaming ginagawang ganitong page. Siguradong napasok ito. Nagcreate sila ng bagong page na hindi naglolog-in as administrator. So, backdoor ang ginamit dito," said Carolina dela Cruz, information system analyst of the DOH. - HGS, GMANews.TV