By Mark Vincent A. Durano

Following the hacking incidents of their Facebook pages, Far Eastern University (FEU) Peers and FEU Drug Abuse Prevention Core Group (DAPCG) are forced to create new pages due to its high-costing retrieval.

FEU Peers’ Facebook page first got hacked last June 3 at 12:07 a.m. while FEU DAPCG lost their account access last June 5 at 6:15 p.m. which both of the organizations reported right away.

In separate online interviews with FEU Advocate, FEU Peers President Althea Joy Asi and FEU DAPCG President Julianne Faith Alforte shared the immediate steps they took upon notice of the hacked pages.

“Nag-reach out din kami sa mga experts… Malaki na rin talaga ‘yung value nu’ng page so sabi nu’ng expert is kapag ipapaayos nga din namin s’ya, probably hindi lang kami aabutin ng P1,500. It would be around P30,000 (We also reached out to experts… The value of the page is really big so the expert said if we will have it fixed too, we probably will not just reach P1,500. It would be around P30,000),” Asi shared.

The FEU Peers president also claimed that the incident was beyond their control. 

“So parang tinanggap na rin namin no’n na it’s either tulungan kami ng Meta dahil nga nag-file kami ng report, maawa sa amin ‘yung hackers, or gumastos kami ng ganu’ng kalaking halaga (So we just accepted that it is either Meta helps us since we filed a report, the hackers show mercy, or we spend that big of an amount),” she added.

The organizations contacted the Student Development Office and were referred to the Marketing and Communication Office (MCO) for possible interventions. Meanwhile, FEU Peers also approached the Educational Technology Office for aid.

“The [FEU Central Student Organization] P.R.O. [Press Relations Officer] assisted us with our concern. We were also assisted by the FEU Peers President who has experienced the same problem. We will be coordinating with the Student Development Office [SDev] and MCO for the creation of our new Facebook page,” Alforte said.

Both organizations do not have reports of who the hacker might be and their purpose, as well as if the incidents are connected.

Treating the experience as a lesson, the FEU Peers president affirmed to guarantee their new page’s utmost protection.

“We have to move forward… Para sa susunod, [we will] be more maagap sa pag-secure ng page and ensure talaga ‘yung safety and security nu’ng page (So the next time, we will be more prompt to secure the page and really ensure the safety and security of the page),” she stated. 

The FEU DAPCG President also urged social media users to strengthen efforts in securing accounts and safety in cyberspace. 

“To prevent any similar incident from happening, always monitor the security of your account, do not click any malicious links, and protect your information,” she said.

Moreover, Information and Technology Services Infrastructure and Cybersecurity Head Joseph Paul Sianghio stressed on reviewing page roles and permissions.

“The best practice [is] having multiple Administrators (Primary + Back-up) with different manners of login (email + phone number) so that the Back-up account can be used to recover the account in case the page is hacked and password changed,” he mentioned.

Sianghio also advised using stronger passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, being wary of friend requests and suspicious links, and setting up trusted accounts.

The organizations requested Facebook users to report the hacked pages and refrain from interacting with the posts.

As of writing, FEU Peers launched their new page last June 6 while FEU DAPCG has yet to create theirs.

(Photo courtesy of FEU Peers and FEU DAPCG Instagram)