A Palace official made an assurance on Saturday, May 28, that the government continues to fortify the country’s banking system against hackers who have been trying to penetrate the banking system.
Earlier, security firm Symantec revealed that a Philippine bank has been attacked by the same hacker group which took $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank. Some of the money was diverted to local bank RCBC and in some casinos.
In a radio interview, Communication Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr said that the government is fighting the attacks in two ways: creating institutions against cyber crimes and strengthening the anti-money laundering system.
He said the government has been strengthening the training of the personnel of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to boost their capability against cybercrimes.
“Kailan din lang ay naipasa ang batas na bubuuin na yung isang bagong Department of Information and Communications Technology,” he told dzRB Radyo ng Bayan.
“Sa pamamagitan nito, mapapag-ugnay o mai-integrate lahat nang iba?t ibang ahensya na may partisipasyon diyan sa daloy ng digital information na siya nang kalakaran sa ating modernong daigdig.”
The other aspect is the Anti-Money Laundering system, and the government has already put up the Anti-Money Laundering Council. Its main task is to fight corruption particularly those who are doing illegal money transfers, he said.
There is also a package of reforms being carried out by the government to strengthen the country’s banking rules especially the bank secrecy law, he said.
“At tinitingnan na kung paano ito mapapalakas, at yung mga tinatawag na loopholes sa batas ng Anti-Money Laundering, kung paano mapa-plug yung loopholes sa batas.”
“Kaya yan din naman ang resulta nang pagkamulat at yung tumaas na antas ng kamalayan ng mga mamamayan hinggil sa perwisyo at kasamaan na dulot nitong cybercrimes.”
“At patuloy sanang pagtulungan ng lahat ng mga stakeholders, hindi lamang ng pamahalaan, yung pagsabat sa cybercrime para maiwasan ang mga katiwalian katulad nito,” Coloma added. — PNA
