Philippine president's Erap.com Web site vandalized by hacker

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.BusinessToday.com/techpages/erap02042000.htm

Friday, February 4, 2000

A computer hacker broke into the Internet site of President Joseph
Estrada, inserting a sexual innuendo on an electronic document in the
first successful vandalism of the Philippine leader's Web presence.

The prankster placed the phrase, including a mention of homosexuality,
on a week-old briefing paper on oil prices that was posted by the
Office of the Press Secretary to the www.erap.com site. The posting
was on the web site for almost a day before being removed.

``If I was older, I'd have a heart attack,'' said Ding Gagelonia,
director of the Bureau of Broadcast Services, which oversees the site.

The intrusion comes a week after two Japanese ministries had their Web
sites defaced, and highlights the potential embarrassment awaiting
vulnerable computers of the government and private companies as more
firms in Asia conduct their businesses over the Internet.

In the Japanese break-ins, the hackers erased data and placed links to
pornography sites.

Gagelonia said it was the first time the site, established in June
1998 to promote the policies of Estrada and obtain feedback from the
public, had its contents altered.

Previously, the site was the target of ``mail-bomb'' attacks where
pranksters tried to shut it down by overloading its e-mail system.
Those attacks were repulsed, he said.

The site, which has a computer server in the presidential palace and
another one in Europe, will review its security procedures, Gagelonia
said. DesignNet Philippines Inc., a unit of the Engstrom Group of
Sweden, developed the site.

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