Comelec to push through Philippine elections despite massive data leak

The Philippine Commission on Elections guaranteed that the elections on May 9 will resume despite the recent hacking scandal which exposed almost 55 million personal data of the country's registered voters.

According to Philstar, NBI agents nabbed 23-years old Paul Biteng who is a new information technology graduate from Sampaloc, Manila. Agents also seized Biteng's personal computer which will be subjected to digital forensic examination in order to identify his activities before, during, and after the hacking incident. The Malabon City Court was the one who issued the warrant of arrest for the said culprit.

Biteng will be charged for violating Section 2A-1 of the Cybercrime Prevention Act which covers the illegal access to the whole or any part of a computer system without a permission or approval.

Andres Bautista, the Commission's Chairman, uncovered that the suspect admitted to defacing the Comelec's website. Bautista said the suspect only wanted to show off his abilities in hacking down websites. Bautista, on the other hand, wanted to reassure the public that the vote counting machines will not be affected by the said incident.

NBI agents are also looking for Biteng's possible associates, although their participation to the crime has not been established. Virgilio Mendez, NBI's director, said they are now preparing to apply the search warrants for Biteng's possible accomplice.

As reported by Rappler, based on the NBI's investigation, Biteng has no intention to harm the said site but just to show the public how vulnerable the Comelec website is. Chairman Bautista clarified that Biteng was not paid nor is an associate to any political party in the country

James Jimenez, Comelec's spokesperson, said the automated election will be using a different server which they believe is not part of the site that was hacked. Political experts believe that the elections will not be compromised because of the issue as per ABC News.

The hacked data includes vital details like voter's name, birthday, home address, email, parents' full names and in some parts, the voter's passport details as well as their fingerprints.

Tags

Philippines, elections, Data leak, Hacking, Commission on Elections, registered voters, cybercrime

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