Hackers deface PIA website

(Updated 7:36 p.m.) The website of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) was defaced by hackers Sunday afternoon, with only a small Chinese flag prominently placed on its homepage. Aside from the Chinese flag with a black background, the words “Hacked by 7z1" and “Black Matrix team | 0x.oday@Gmail.com" could be seen in the government website as of 4:40 p.m. By 4:55 p.m., the PIA website was taken down. It was fixed at around 7 p.m. The hacking came almost a week after eight tourists from Hong Kong were killed in a bloody hostage-taking incident in Manila — an incident largely condemned by the Chinese government. The hostage-taker, dismissed policeman Rolando Mendoza, was also killed after Philippine policemen stormed the tourist bus where the hostages were held for 11 hours. Several other government websites have been hacked in the past, including those of the departments of Labor and Employment, Social Welfare and Development, Health, the National Disaster Coordinating Council, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. Malacañang on Sunday instructed all government agencies to review and improve the security of their websites as it assured that its two websites — president.gov.ph and gov.ph — remain secure. "We are adopting best practices to lessen the vulnerability of our websites to hacking and other cyber crimes," said Herminio Coloma, head of the Presidential Communications Office, in a text message. - Jerrie Abella/KBK, GMANews.TV