Friday, March 29, 2024

Solon pushing for additional P3.2-billion budget for CICC

Makati City representative Luis Campos Jr. said on Wednesday, Oct. 7, that he is seeking up to P3.2 billion in new appropriations for the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center or CICC.

CICC executive director Cesar Mancao (left) and President Rodrigo Duterte (Credit: CICC)

The CICC, an agency attached to the Department of Information and Communications Technolog, is now headed by former policeman Cesar Mancao, who serves as its executive director with the rank of undersecretary.

Campos said the CICC needs additional money to build up the government’s defenses against what he called “a looming tsunami of heightened cybercriminal activity.”

“The P167-million cyberheist on state-owned United Coconut Planters Bank may well be just the tip of the iceberg of financial crimes via computer hacking that we might see as government, corporations and individuals embrace digital transformation,” Campos said in a statement.

The lawmaker said additional appropriation will be used by the CICC for the following:

  • P1.4 billion for an Intelligence and Investigation Data Fusion Center;
  • P500 million for a Digital Forensics and Evidence Management System;
  • P204 million for a Cybercrime Threat Operations Center; and
  • P302 million for a Cyber Special Investigation and Response Unit

“We need a large data fusion center where front-line law enforcement can quickly gather, share and analyze information from vast computer networks and communications systems, and then produce actionable intelligence against cybercriminals,” Campos said.

“The fusion center will enable the CICC to swiftly detect cyberattacks and identify threat actors,” Campos said.

He added: “The P3.2 billion is a practical investment meant to prevent the country from incurring far bigger economic losses due to cybersecurity threats.”

The main function of the CICC, however, is now merely confined to just coordinating anti-cybercrime efforts among law enforcement agencies. Republic Act 10844 — the law that created the DICT — transferred the cybersecurity and anti-cybercrime powers of the CICC and its executive director to the DICT.

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