Standoff

The two-week standoff between the Philippines and China in the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal located in the West Philippine Sea has spilled over into the cyberspace. The website of the University of the Philippines has been defaced Friday morning by suspected pro-China hackers. UP is the national university of this Southeast Asian country.

Hackers uploaded a map of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and its nearby countries in the landing page of the UP website.

Danilo Arao, the University’s Assistant Vice President for Public Affairs, denounced the attack, describing it as “an attempt to deprive the UP community of vital information, particularly the schedule of commencement exercises in nine UP campuses and the April 2012 issue of the UP Newsletter which was uploaded last April 17.

Based from the facts, the Chinese hackers are liable for their attack against Philippine websites. These actions are cyber crimes against the Philippine government. They are liable under Republic Act 8792 under  hacking and cracking, refers to the unauthorized access of computer viruses with imprisonment under section 33. These Chinese citizens committed the crime under Philippine jurisdiction thus are liable under Republic Act 8792. The Filipino hackers did not attack the silent websites of the Chinese government. The Chinese government added insult to injury against the country.