The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has launched an investigation following alarming reports suggesting a potential data breach compromising contact information from the government agency, which is allegedly being sold on the internet.
In a hacker forum, a user named “Chengyi” published a thread selling a database containing mailing information of the “Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs” for 1000 USDT (Tether) – a stablecoin used in crypto.
The threat actor also included a sample of the data stolen linked to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) which contains standard plain text files that hold email messages.
Based on the “.eml” files, correspondences involving the DFA’s Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs (ASPAC); the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in Bangkok, Kingdom of Thailand; and the DFA-Maritime and Ocean Affairs Office (DFA-MOAO) are some of the leaked emails contained in the exploited database.
The post also alluded that the database can be updated with new information, which means the hacker potentially still has access to the email correspondences involving the aforementioned offices.
In response to these claims, DFA Spokesperson Teresita Daza acknowledged the situation and that “the DFA has received reports of alleged email data being sold online.”
“The Department’s Information and Communications Technology Division is investigating the matter,” she added.