Comelec admits website not immune to hackers

MANILA, Philippines - Amid attacks on some government websites, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said its own website is not totally immune but it is ready to respond immediately in case it is hacked.

“I’ve been always saying that there’s no such thing as a hack-free computer system. But what we can guarantee is that if our website will be hacked, we will act immediately,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said.

Jimenez said the system to be used in the 2013 mid-term elections has a “different and higher level of security.”

“It’s unfair to compare our transmission system, voting system for election with the system for our information site. These are two different things. Our (election-related) system has security features that will make hacking very difficult,” he added.

In the past weeks, the group “Anonymous Philippines” had defaced the websites of several government agencies in the aftermath of the passage of the anti-cybercrime law.

Among these websites are those of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Department of Health, the University of the Philippines’ Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis, Philippines’ Anti-Piracy Team, Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The group had replaced the websites with animated logos and a statement against the cybercrime law.