INTERPOL working with PH authorities to fight cyber crimes

Andrea Taguines, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) is helping local enforcement agencies such as the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police with the training they need to deal with cybersecurity threats, an official said on Tuesday.During the first day of the Cybersphere Philippines conference in Taguig, INTERPOL&#x27;s Cybercrime Directorate Angelo Paolo Trias said local authorities are the &quot;first responders&quot; to cybercrimes and should be well-trained to act on such incidents concerning their territory. &quot;They understand the context and therefore the expertise should be with them,&quot; he said.The INTERPOL Cybercrime Directorate has conducted trainings for operatives from the NBI, the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group, as well as representatives from the Department of Information and Communications Technology, he added.&quot;We also run table-top exercises, simulation exercises of different cybercrime areas including business email compromise, ransomware and so on,” said Trias.Although the global inter-government police organization said its cyber capabilities project in Southeast Asia is primarily focused on cryptocurrency investigation and malware analysis, Trias pointed out that it was also exploring artificial intelligence. “Now we are looking at AI-driven phishing which uses AI to develop more tailored and better-looking phishing messages which is a problem,” he said.The chief of the Philippines’ Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), Alexander Ramos, admitted that these new types of threats made it more difficult to stop the spread of text scams in the country, even with the SIM Card Registration law in place.“Tulad niyan, pwede mong i-automate ang pag-register. Dati kailangan mong mag-selfie. There are tools that can animate still images to make it look like it’s a selfie so we’re seeing a rapid change in technology and we are trying to adapt to it. We are trying to catch up with it,” he said.The Philippines implemented a measure that mandated the registration of mobile numbers to curb the spread of SMS-related phishing scams or &quot;smishing&quot;. However, despite the law, scams remain prevalent as fraudsters found ways to obtain SIM cards illegally and victimize people through other means such as online apps.National Privacy Commission Deputy Commissioner Leandro Aguirre echoed the need to make Filipinos understand the risk of selling their personal information as well as their registered SIM cards to potential cyber criminals.“They think, ‘Okay, I’m offered P1,500, ibibigay ko lang yung SIM card. Pwede naman ako mag-register ulit. That’s easy money’— without recognizing that by doing that, they’re sacrificing their data. At the same time, in the event that that SIM card is used for some crime, by presumption of law, they’re the ones that would be held initially as the suspect,” said Aguirre.On the part of the private sector, e-payments platform GCash said it implemented multiple security measures to protect its users from frauds.But Chief Risk Officer Ingrid Berona stressed that lawmakers should also craft &quot;specific and commensurate laws&quot; that would address the issue. In particular, she cited the Anti-Money Mule and Financial Fraud bill that is currently pending in Congress.“This is where we would like to criminalize selling and sharing of personal identifiable information because currently, it’s actually not criminal to do it. So sometimes, we do (customer) education but there are times when we need to give them a stick already. Because sometimes, they only understand if there is already a consequence to their action,” she said.Meanwhile, ScamWatch Pilipinas co-lead convenor Jocel De Guzman emphasized that in order for any customer education initiative to work, it should be presented in a way that is easily understood by the people.“Ang problema, base dun sa pag-aaral namin at sa experience namin, yung phishing hindi nila maintindihan. OTP, hindi nila maintindihan. So ang dapat ituro natin dito, imbis na technical, dapat behavioral,” he said.De Guzman said their own anti-scam education campaign centers around four &quot;Kontra Scam Attitudes&quot;.“Magdamot po tayo ng pera sa hindi natin kakilala, magduda sa mga taong hindi natin kakilala, mang-snob ng mga messages na hindi natin kailangan o wala tayong pinagkakautangan, at magsumbong sa hotline 1326 (ng CICC),&quot; he added.<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2791296" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) is helping local enforcement agencies such as the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police with the training they need to deal with cybersecurity threats, an official said on Tuesday.

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INTERPOL working with PH authorities to fight cyber crimes

INTERPOL working with PH authorities to fight cyber crimes

Andrea Taguines,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 05, 2023 10:13 PM PHT

|

Updated Sep 06, 2023 11:07 AM PHT

Read More:

Interpol

cybercrime prevention

DICT

Cybersphere Philippines

anti-money mule bill

Scam Watch Pilipinas

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