THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) ordered the speeding up of investigation of cybercrime cases filed with the agency as it assured the public that it will not stop until cybercriminals are brought to justice.
NBI Officer-in-Charge Director Eric Distor also directed the members of his Directorial Staff and cyber-investigators to coordinate with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and other government financial institutions on how they can strengthen their banks’ systems and policies to further curb or eradicate any future plans or attacks on banks.
Distor stressed these moves in light of recent hacking incidents of a commercial bank last December 2021 that victimized hundreds of customers’ accounts. Distor also said that hackers exploited the vulnerability of the bank process that they were able to find access to bypass the one time pin (OTP) requirement of a transaction that resulted in fraudulent activity.
Agents from the NBI-Cyber Crime Division (NBI-CCD) already arrested a total of five perpetrators, two foreign nationals and three locals, involved in the hacking incident in a series of operations on January 17 – 20, 2022.
Following their arrest, the NBI has also identified about 30 more individuals who will be summoned to shed light on the recent hacking incident.
Distor also unveiled his plan for the NBI to spearhead and sponsor a Cyber Crime and Digital Forensic Summit in the second quarter of the year in collaboration with the Department of Justice and Department of Information, Communications and Technology (DICT).
“We will call IT professionals and practitioners to join the summit as we need to have strong and solid collaborative efforts between the private sector and the government to fight cybercrime. In this age of fast technological advancements where the world has become a borderless village, we need a united front to fight an unseen enemy,” Distor emphasized.