MANILA – A hacker claimed that he has manipulated the outcome of the fan voting for the recently-concluded PBA All-Star Weekend at the University of St. La Salle Gym in Bacolod City.
In the “The No Cooking Show” program of sports insider Snow Badua, a cyber expert approached him to narrate that he tweaked the result of the online voting for the recent PBA All-Star event.
The cyber expert, who maintained his anonymity, cited the numbers garnered by Aklanon forward Keith Zaldivar of the Converge FiberXers, who emerged as the top vote-getter in the Team Stalwarts vs. Team Greats Blitz Game.
The individual, who claims to be a cyber security expert working for different companies and governments around the world for the past 30 years, explained that he started rigging the PBA All-Star voting between Jan. 20 to 24.
“As of January 18, kung mapapansin ninyo, wala pa si Zaldivar (sa early returns ng All-Star Balloting). Nung napansin ko na pwede ulit i-hack yung PBA online votes, pinakialaman ko,” the hacker said.
“Nag-test muna ako. Si Zaldivar muna ang tinry ko. So nung nakita ko na vulnerable ang online votes ng PBA, pinasadahan ko na,” he added. “From almost zero votes, naging 79,150 votes agad siya.”
Aside from Zaldivar, the hacker also claimed to have manipulated the votes of NorthPort Batang Pier rookie John Amores, Rain or Shine Elasto Painters guard Anton Asistio, Terrafirma Dyip guard Angelo Alolino, and several others.
The cyber expert said he decided to warn the public to warn the PBA to improve its system to prevent the manipulation from being repeated, as he has been tweaking the PBA system for years.
The cyber expert also claimed to have rigged the online votes on the PBA website in 2012 when he added two million votes for Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings legend Mark Caguioa in an MVP award survey.
“Kahit itanong nyo yan sa PBA ide-deny nila, pero ito ang aking proof,” said the hacker. “May kasabihan nga tayo, it takes a thief to catch a thief. Nakita ko mahina pa ang kanilang website at mali sila ng diskarte.”/PN
