UP Cebu student feedback system hacked

CEBU, Philippines —  A document bearing a list of students and alumni from the University of the Philippines- Cebu (UP Cebu) has circulated online after the school’s Student Evaluation on Teaching (SET) system was hacked.

"It’s confirmed that our SET has been breached but our SAIS (Student Academic Information System) is safe. Our SET is a local system that is separate from our system based SAIS. It’s just that SET uses their SAIS ID," UP Cebu told The Freeman yesterday afternoon. 

Yesterday, several UP students posted status updates on the existence of a public Scribled document bearing the names of students and alumni of the university’s College of Communication Arts and Design (CCAD) or those that have taken subjects under the college.

Apart from the list of names, the document also contained temporary passwords needed to access the SET system. SET is a site students log into at the end of each semester to rate the teaching methods of their lecturers and professors.

The Student Academic Information System (SAIS) is a data management system which holds all accounts for every student in the UP system. This is where students enroll in classes and receive virtual copies of grades.

It was reported earlier yesterday that the entire SAIS system had been hacked but the UP Cebu IT team found out later this was not the case. The IT team explained that SET is a local system not connected directly to SAIS but only requires students’ SAIS account ID details for login purposes.

UP Cebu Chancellor Liza Corro assured students that no other personal information was released, apart from the names and passwords. She said investigation is being conducted to get to the bottom of the matter.

Students were alarmed over the breach since news about it broke just a day after fake accounts for UP students emerged on Facebook.

Tugani, the official student publication of UP Cebu, posted a news release last June 6 alerting students of the emergence of fake accounts.

"Dozens of empty duplicate accounts bearing active usernames of UP Cebu students surface tonight. Victims speculate that this might involve identity theft or targeted attacks against UP students," the news alert reads.

Since then, human rights group Youth Act Now Against Tyranny-Cebu has begun compiling a list of fake accounts in a database and have launched a massive report campaign against the dummy users.

As it turned out, the creation of fake accounts is not exclusive to UP students but was found to be a system-wide problem. The university even urged students and alumni to check if their accounts have been duplicated.

The UP System Data Protection Office has reached out to the Philippine National Privacy Commission for help in reporting these incidents to Facebook DPO.

Meanwhile, Corro who also fell victim to a fake account said she has already asked the UP System to make representations for UP Cebu with Facebook on how the community can be better protected.

"I understand all your anxieties right now, there are still a lot of things we are doing to address all these issues. Our UP System officials are behind us in all of these and constantly monitoring whatever is happening here with us. Let us remain united in all these threats coming in to us," she said.

The National Privacy Commission has urged those whose accounts were duplicated to report the same to Facebook.

Privacy Commissioner Raymund Liboro says Facebook is investigating the matter and has been instructed to report its findings to the agency.

Rally Arrests

Meanwhile, the police will be investigating certain aspects of the anti-terror rally at the UP Cebu campus that led to the arrest of eight people on Friday.

Police Regional Office-7 Director Albert Ignatius Ferro said they will look into a protester allegedly kicking the head of a policeman during the arrest. The incident was reportedly captured on video.

"We just have to identify that youngster nga ga-inflict ug bodily harm sa atong police," Ferro said, adding, that charges may be filed against that protester.

Ferro also said they are looking into information that two of the eight who were arrested during the rally are from areas in Cebu City that were placed under total lockdown – from sitio Alaska in Barangay Mambaling in Cebu City and from Tres De Abril in Barangay Labangon, also in Cebu City.

"We are wondering why these persons were able to go out in that particular place despite the restriction implemented in that area," said Ferro.

PRO-7 is awaiting the decision of prosecutors whether or not they will recommend bail for the eight arrested.

"We will wait for the resolution nga gikan sa fiscal og unsay desisyon nila if they will be allowed to post a bail or whatever their decision is," Ferro said.

The eight arrested allegedly violated quarantine rules that prohibit mass gatherings and did not have a permit to hold the protest.  JMO (FREEMAN)