Tesda Website hacked again; users directed to Smartmatic

Even before its administrators could fix the problem, the website of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority was hacked again early Monday, this time redirecting visitors to the website of Smartmatic, the contractor tasked to implement the automated elections this May. Earlier, Tesda Website visitors were treated with an image of a man with a dirty finger, and a message in memory of Kemberly Jul Luna, who was killed in an encounter with government troops in Mindanao last December. As of 6 a.m. Monday, the hacked homepage retained the rants against "abusive" military and police personnel supposedly involved in abductions and extortion. But instead of a second page where visitors would see taunts against government's ability to secure the automated elections, the hacked site redirected to the website of Smartmatic.

Smartmatic is the firm contracted to implement the country's first automated election. The Smartmatic website did not appear to be defaced. A check of the hacked TESDA website's homepage showed the hackers left instructions for the site to redirect to Smartmatic's website in 20 seconds. It also left behind keywords such as Filipino, Pinoy Abroad, vip1.smartbro.net, Filipino Hackers, Pinoy Hackers, and Pinoy Defacers. Ironically, the defaced home page of TESDA had the message السلام عليكم that when translated means "Peace be with you." TESDa is the fifth government agency whose website was defaced since December. Other agencies whose sites were defaced included the Departments of Health; Social Welfare and Development, and Labor and Employment, and National Disaster Coordinating Council. - LBG, GMANews.TV