Websites of UP, UST, other Philippine schools down due to domain issue

MANILA, Philippines — Several schools in the Philippines, such as the University of the Philippines, the University of Santo Tomas, Adamson University, University of the East, and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, experienced technical difficulties with their websites on Friday, January 24, due to an ongoing issue with the edu.ph domain. 

The Philippine Network Foundation, Incorporated (PHNET), which handles the registry of domains for edu.ph, told Rappler that the servers handling the domain have been experiencing “heavy load” since 10 pm of Thursday, January 23, and the resolution to the issue is “slower than usual.”

The University of the Philippines website is inaccessible as of the afternoon of January 24, 2024, due to an issue with the edu.ph domain. Rappler screenshot

The University of Santo Tomas website is inaccessible as of the afternoon of January 24, 2024, due to an issue with the edu.ph domain. Rappler screenshot

Adamson University’s website is inaccessible as of the afternoon of January 24, 2024, due to an issue with the edu.ph domain. Rappler screenshot

The University of the East website is inaccessible as of the afternoon of January 24, 2024, due to an issue with the edu.ph domain. Rappler screenshot

PHNET is a consortium of institutions created with the support of the Department of Science and Technology and representatives from several universities that connected the schools in the Philippines to the internet.

Institutions wishing to use the edu.ph must register with PHNET to access the domain. Other schools such as the Ateneo de Manila University and STI College are not experiencing access issues as they both use the .edu domain for their websites. 

GMA News Online reported that according to Department of Information and Technology Undersecretary Jeffrey Dy, the agency was informed that PHNET experienced a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack, adding that DICT offered its National Computer Emergency Response Team to assist them on the issue. 

A DDOS attack is a malicious attempt to bring down a website by flooding it with an overwhelming amount of simulated traffic. The tactic was used to bring down news websites such as Rappler, Vera Files, and ABS-CBN News. 

PHNET has yet to confirm whether the edu.ph issue is due to a DDOS attack. We will update this story once we receive a follow-up response. 

Universities affected by the edu.ph domain issue said that they are coordinating with PHNET on the issue. They added that school emails and learning management software such as Canva and Blackboard remain accessible. 

However, users on carriers such as Globe and Smart will experience problems accessing some online systems. – Rappler.com