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Thursday, March 28, 2024

3 election hackers arrested

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Suspects linked to Smartmatic machine breach, poll victory scam

Authorities have arrested and filed criminal charges against three men who alleged had hacked Smartmatic, the system provider for the 2022 national elections.

HACKERS NABBED. Three suspects said to be responsible for hacking the Comelec Smartmatic system on January 8 hide under their shirts on Tuesday. They were identified as Joel Adajar, Adrian De Jesus Martinez and Jeffrey Cruz Limpiado. Manny Palmero

They said the suspects, caught in an entrapment operation, were selling “victories” to candidates in the May 9 local and national polls, the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group said Tuesday.

The PNP-ACG with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center arrested the suspects in separate entrapment operations in Imus, Cavite, and Sta. Rosa, Laguna on April 23.

“CICC together with the PNP-ACG conducted an entrapment operation in Imus, Cavite, and Sta. Rosa, Laguna against notorious hackers named ‘XSOX Group’,” the PNP-ACG said in a statement.

The suspects were identified as Joel Adajar Ilagan or “Borger”, Adrian De Jesus Martinez or “Admin X”, and Jeffrey Cruz Limpiado or “Brake/Vanguard/Universe/LRR”.

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Authorities said the suspects allegedly claimed to have access to the system of Smartmatic Inc., which they said could influence the results of the May 9 polls.

At a press conference Tuesday, CICC executive director Cezar Mancao II said operatives had three meetings with the suspects.

“In fact, there were three meetings with them. First, at Solaire, second at EDSA Shangri-La, and third in Pansol, Laguna. They did not know they were talking to CICC operatives,” he said.

The operatives posed as personnel of some politicians who would like to seek the hackers’ help to rig the results of the May 9 polls.

The suspects received the initial P10 million of the P16 million payment they asked, he added.

Mancao said these hackers indeed have access to the Smartmatic system, but only within partial levels.

According to him, the three suspects were connected with former Smartmatic employee Ricardo Argana, who initially surrendered to the NBI and went into hiding.

Argana supposedly passed the access to the Smartmatic system to Limpiado, according to Mancao.

Based on initial findings, the suspects allegedly violated the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 with the following acts:

— Hacking of Smartmatic system;

— Disrupting the Comelec website;

— Hacking the Napocor (National Power Corp.) website;

— Hacking of credit cards and other online transactions; and

— Ransomware committed against some local commercial websites.

With the help of the Department of Justice and the National Prosecution Service, the PNP-ACG said criminal cases were filed against the suspects for violation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, particularly system interference, illegal access, and attempt in the commission of cybercrime.

“With these arrests, we can assure the public that the threat to rig our electoral process through hacking is substantially diminished as these are the only remaining known hackers who are persistently visible on the dark web claiming that they can manipulate election results,” it added.

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