What Happened
On June 19, 2020, the Pinoy Greyhats gained unauthorized access to the systems of Lipa City Colleges in Lipa City, Batangas. The breach was part of the June 2020 wave of attacks against Philippine schools.
Context
Lipa City Colleges is a local government-funded institution. Like many smaller colleges, it was transitioning to digital services during the COVID-19 pandemic without adequate cybersecurity measures in place.
Lessons for Schools
- 1.Local colleges need security support — city and municipal colleges often have the smallest IT budgets but still hold sensitive student data
- 2.Government-funded schools should leverage DICT resources — the Department of Information and Communications Technology offers free cybersecurity assessments for government institutions
- 3.Basic security measures go a long way — SSL certificates, updated software, and strong passwords prevent the majority of attacks
Sources & References
All sources are independently verified. Access dates and archive links are recorded for each citation.
- [1]GitHub Registry — Community-maintained registry of Philippine school hacking incidents (May-June 2020)