The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has tapped a former policeman to head the agency’s cybercrime and cybersecurity unit.
Allan Cabanlong has been named the first executive director of the DICT’s Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center (CICC) after a stint with the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Cabanlong, who held the rank of major in the police force, was the chief of Web Services and Cyber Security Division of the PNP, specifically the Information and Technology Management Service (PNP-ITMS).
As the chief of the CICC, Cabanlong is in charge of functions related to cybersecurity, including the formulation of the National Cybersecurity Plan, the establishment of the National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), and the facilitation of international cooperation on intelligence regarding cybersecurity matters.
Prior to his new role, Cabanlong served as chief adviser for cybersecurity matters to Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) executive director Louis Casambre.
A professional electronics engineer, Cabanlong is a graduate of Master of Science in Global Information and Telecommunications Studies (Chief Information Officer/IT Disciplinary Research Course) at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.
He is also an adjunct professor at the National Police College of the Philippines and an engineering lecturer at the Technological Institute of the Philippines.
He was also part of core group which drafted the proposed law on the “Use of Internet for Terrorist Purposes” with the Office of the President (Anti-Terrorism Council) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
