Almost 30 Philippine Schools Hacked Just This June

by AJ Dumanhug

Cybercriminals have been hard at work in the past few months. It's not just small business and start-ups that are at risk, schools are in just as much risk, specially as Philippine Schools are transitioning to online education in the next couple of months.

The news of FEU, UP Visayas and San Beda's websites being hacked have been circulating in social media but there are actually more schools that have been breached in one month alone. This clearly shows schools are not exempt from cyber crimes, and this leads us to question: are Philippine Schools ready to go online?

Just this June 2020 the following schools that have been hacked:

1. ACCESS Computer College
2. San Beda University
3. University of the Philippines Visayas
4. Far Eastern University
5. Cebu Normal University
6. Tarlac Agricultural University
7. University of St. La Salle
8. ICCT Colleges
9. AMA University
10. Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation
11. Polytechnic University of the Philippines Sta. Mesa
12. University of Mindanao
13. Apayao State College
14. Mabalacat City College
15. Bulacan State University
16. DepEd Caraga
17. Lipa City Colleges
18. University of the East
19. Technological Institute of the Philippines
20. Angeles University Foundation
21. Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges
22. Trinity Christian School
23. Our Lady of Fatima University
24. Northwest Samar State University
25. Polytechnic University of the Philippines Taguig
26. De La Salle University
27. Samar State University
28. Rizal Technological University

‌‌See the details here: https://github.com/ajdumanhug/gothacked

Though a one-time Vulnerability Assessement and Penetration Testing (VAPT) for their online assets will help Philippine Schools to kick-off their Cybersecurity Program, they need something that will continuously help them discover security vulnerabilities in their systems, as cybercriminals are constantly on the prowl. Being open to a Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure Assistance Program is a good step, but running a Bug Bounty Program will give them even more advantage.

One idea of a Cyber Security Program, if a school has IT-related courses, is to hone their students' ethical hacking skills and incentivize them to look for security vulnerabilities in their own school's digital assets – perhaps a School Bug Bounty Program. However, this may take some time to set-up and run. Schools need to be secured as soon as possible!

We at Secuna are always ready to help these schools quickly start their Cybersecurity Programs. With our robust platform built for Bug Bounty and Vulnerability Disclosure plus a community of 700+ registered cybersecurity professionals, schools can setup a program in a few days and start getting Vulnerability Reports after just a few hours.

If you know anyone who may benefit from this, please let them contact us. So we can help them secure their school's online assets.