14 DAY TRIAL // A member of the Philippines administration announced that 68 government websites suffered crippling DDoS attacks last week.
According to the official, the attacks started on the afternoon of July 12, the very same day the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in the Netherlands unanimously ruled for the Philippines in a conflict with China. More specifically, it all concerned several newly created islands in the West Philippine Sea that intruded into the Philippines' maritime territories.
The Philippines claimed that China had manufactured and claimed those islands in order to expand its maritime territory into an area historically under the Philippines' control.
Attacks targeted small and large government portals alike
Officials said the attacks continued with the same intensity on the following day, Wednesday, July 13, and quieted down in the next days.
The targets of the DDoS attacks included high-profile websites belonging to the Department of National Defense, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Interior and Local Government, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the Presidential Management Staff, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (central bank of the Republic of the Philippines).
Hackers targeted smaller and non-sensitive sites belonging to Komisyon sa Wikang Pilipino (the official regulating body of the Filipino language), the National Archives, the Manila City Hall, and the East Avenue Medical Center.
Even smaller targets were also hit, and among them were the portals of local government units (LGUs) and smaller towns. The attacks made conducting government affairs more difficult, sometimes impossible.
Defacements followed during over the weekend
By Saturday, officials discovered two government portals were also defaced, featuring a message that was signed as the "Chinese government," but linking to an inactive Twitter account belonging to an Anonymous member.
Filipino officials were not able to pinpoint the source of the attack, but most believe that Chinese hackers are behind the incident based on its timing.
International relations between China and the Philippines are extremely tense. Calling the two countries on the brink of war would not be an exaggeration.
The Philippines branches of Anonymous and LulzSec are among the most active hacktivism groups on the Web, so similar attacks are to be expected against the Chinese government portals.