Alternative media groups submit evidence of cyber-attacks

CMFR PHILIPPINES – Several alternative media organizations submitted before a Quezon City court on Monday, 9 September 2019 evidence against two IT firms allegedly responsible for a series of cyber-attacks against their websites.

Assisted by the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), the group submitted at least 3,500 pages of printed weblogs with signature attacks and monitoring reports of the distributed denial of service (DDos) attacks, among others, the online news site Bulatlat reported. The evidence was submitted to Branch 220 of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

The websites of AlterMidya, Bulatlat, Kodao Productions and Pinoy Weekly were subjected to cyber-attacks from December 2018 to March 2019.

These media organizations filed a civil case against IP Converge and Suniway which were found to be the sources of the attacks per the forensic report of the Sweden-based Qurium Media Foundation which helped the group monitor the attacks. The two companies denied having direct knowledge of the cyber-attacks and have also filed counter-claims for “besmirching their reputation,” the alternative media organizations said in a statement.

Alternative media organizations have been reporting on topics the corporate media hardly touch on. They are often red-baited because of their coverage of issues involving workers, farmers, indigenous peoples, LGBTQ, and women, among others. They have also been critically reporting the “drug war” killings and human rights violations committed by police, military personnel and paramilitaries against members of militant groups and other critics of the Duterte regime.

See related alerts:
“Alternative Media Groups File Raps vs Cyber-Attackers”
“Cyber-attacks Hit Bulatlat Anew”
“Alternative News Sites Down in Cyber-Attack”