The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has assured that all its computer systems are fine and working as it condemned the hacking of its website that it said was an act meant to foil the agency’s computerization plan.
Customs commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero, in a statement, said the incident “is an attempt by criminals to derail the computerization program of the Bureau designed to promote efficiency, transparency and eradicate graft and corruption.”
On June 24, BOC’s website was hacked, its headboard displaying the text “HACKED BY ULTIMATE HAXOR.” Haxor is another word for hacker. The website, as of press time, is still down.
BOC’s Management Information System and Technology Group deputy commissioner Allan Geronimo, in a text message to PortCalls, said no BOC system was affected and “all are working fine.”
BOC in a separate statement added that the six newly launched computerization projects “are secured and working as expected.”
It also assured that its electronic-to-mobile (e2m) system “remains intact and secure and that there is no disruption in the operations of the bureau.”
BOC said it has already coordinated with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), which hosts the website. DICT’s National Computer Emergency Response Team is mandated to provide proactive government countermeasures to address and anticipate all domestic and transnational incidents affecting Philippine cyberspace and any cyber security threats to the country.
