TWENTY years after successfully investigating the hacking of the Journal Group and main government websites and prompting the hacker to plead guilty in court, Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) director Brigadier General Bernard R. Yang said much needs to be done in the country where “anybody connected to the internet would be vulnerable.”

The official was talking of incidents like the move by the Court of Appeals in April 2023 affirming the conviction of a former branch manager at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. accused of money-laundering in connection with the US$81 million stolen by hackers from Bangladesh’s central bank in 2016.

The stolen money from the Bangladesh central bank was deposited on fake bank accounts at the RCBC branch in Jupiter Street, Makati City.

Then there was the case of “Giner,” the Filipino hacker who pleaded guilty to hacking the Philippine government portal “gov.ph”, the Journal Group website and other government websites and was convicted for violation of Section 33a of the E-Commerce Law.

“Giner” made history as the first local hacker to be convicted under the Cybercrime Prevention Act in the Philippines in 2005, thanks to the thorough investigation conducted by the personnel of the former Computer Crime Unit of the Anti-Transnational Crime Division of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

He received a sentence ranging from 1 to 2-years imprisonment along with a fine of P100,000 although he applied for probation.

“Imagine we scored a conviction in 2005 when we just started our work in 2003. It was in that year when the United States government thru their Anti-Terror Assistance Program poured great support to the Philippines. They saw that we don’t have trained cybercrime personnel, we don’t have the modern equipment but we had a conviction,” Brig. Gen. Yang, one of the pioneers in the police force when it comes to fighting cybercrime.

The official said the Marcos Jr. administration should be thanked for pouring its support to the PNP’s anti-cybercrime efforts unlike in the past when former Philippine government relied on U.S. grants.

President Marcos last year ordered the PNP headed by General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil to further intensify their anti-cybercrime efforts and beef-up their equipment needed to address the problem which has been described as a ‘real emerging threat’ to national security along with terrorism and transnational crimes.

In line with the presidential instructions, Gen. Marbil said he is seeking “continuity and improvement” in the organization as he acknowledged that their scope of responsibilities was evolving in a changing society.

The top cop said they recognize that effective law enforcement nowadays requires competency and innovation in the use and application of technology to their overall operation and daily work, thus the need to prioritize the integration of the PNP Secured, Mobile, Artificial Intelligence-Driven, and Real-Time (Smart) Policing Program and ICT Development Roadmap in their operations which include fighting and investigating cybercriminals with sophisticated crime tools.

“The classic example of an honest-to-goodness cybercrime investigation involves that of the hacking of www.journal.com.ph,” he said.

“In that case, there was a complainant. There was complete investigation, documentation, the referral of the case before the Department of Justice and finally a conviction. In short, it was a real success story,” the PNP-ACG director.

Brig. Gen. Yang said they are proud to say they managed to score a court conviction that year when there was still no cybercrime act and they only have to rely to the E-Commerce Law.

“Since 2014, we were already going after telecom fraud and have arrested hundreds of foreigners and Filipinos involved in that illegal trade which actually evolved into what we call now as POGOs-cum ‘scam farms,” the official said.

He also cited that during their younger days, they were already investigating online scams including one case in which an “online pharmacy” composed of Filipino call center agents run a company that offered “Viagra” to foreign clients.

The ensuing operation led in the arrest of dozens of people who were found to be selling online the sex enhancing pills from Hongkong to the chagrin of Pfizer USA. There were claims then that Viagra pills sold from Manila left many American clients dead.

Former Southern Police District director Brig. Gen. Yang said he and retired General Gilbert C. Sosa, the former head of the CIDG’s ATCD, have been talking of the need to have a special anti-cybercrime unit in the PNP since 2002.

“We believe then that it would be the future of policing, that we have to really be ready against all forms of cybercrimes, even fake news. We then even wanted a bill that will be tough against disinformation, misinformation and mal-information although we have to admit that lots of companies would like to create difference scenarios just to sell their security softwares, It’s like a real marketing strategy,” he said.

Brig. Gen. Yang maintained that nowadays, fake news can be made either by “keyboard warriors or trolls” or “botnets or robot nets” using software applications.

“That’s why I am saying that anybody connected to the internet would be vulnerable,” he said.

He also said “modern hackers” are now using state-of-the-art technology to perpetrate their illicit activities unlike in 2004 when the convicted Journal Group and government website hacker merely relied on “password guessing” to test the vulnerability of his target-systems and succeeded.

“Hacking” is described as the act of compromising digital services and networks through unauthorized access to an account or computer system. It is commonly associated to cyber-criminals.

“To explain it simply, pag pumasok ka sa system ko without my consent, it’s already hacking under the E-Commerce Act,” the PNP-ACG director said.

The late President Benigno S. Aquino III on September 12, 2012 signed into law Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 which aimed to address legal issues concerning online interactions and the internet in the country.

Among the cybercrime offenses included in the new law are cybersquatting, cybersex, child pornography, identity theft, illegal access to data and libel. RA 10175 became one of the first laws which penalized computer crimes in the country which, prior to the passage of the said law had no strong legal precedent in Philippine jurisprudence.

RA 8792 or the Electronic Commerce Act of 2002 regulated certain computer-related activities although it did not provide a legal basis for criminalizing crimes committed on a computer in general like the infamous “I Love You” virus or “Love Bug.”

AUTHOR PROFILE

Alfred P. Dalizon