Computer Crime becoming a Headache for Philippines Police

According to the Philippines National Police (PNP), cyber crimes increased sharply in 2007 and it is rising every year.

Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) revealed that the Philippine police reported 1,843 cyber crimes last year while there were only 527 cyber criminal cases reported in 2006, a three-fold increase in a year.

As per the police, a total of 2,624 cases were reported between 2003 and 2007. In 2003, only 37 cases were reported and they kept surging every year with 56 cases in 2004 and 161 cases in 2005.

In the span of two years, from 2004 to 2006, the PNP investigated 195 computer crimes, in which cases on various subjects like credit and debt card fraud, Internet pornography, violation of copyright laws, and other computer related crimes were noticed.

Raul Castañeda, Commander Chief Supt, CIDG, said that the organization is vigilant against cyber crimes and focusing on every case, as reported by INQUIRER on February 25, 2008.

Castañeda also notified that they should be ready due to the reason that this is preparation of future training and arranging equipments is going on to step up their capabilities in cyber crime investigation and computer forensics. Besides, they are mainly concentrating in Metro Manila.

Reporting in a paper, CIDG also informed that the organization put in great deal of efforts in nabbing JJ Maria Giner in 2005. Giner was the first convicted hacker in the country. Giner had been charged for hacking government Website and was convicted under the E-Commerce Act.

Moreover, CIDG is doing quite well in this direction and has disabled 21 phishing Websites in the country. phishing is a part of cyber crime in which criminal hacks the sensitive personal information of a user like user names, credit card details, and passwords by pretending as a friendly and trustworthy person via e-mail.

Similarly, Trend Micro, an Internet security solution provider, released a report on October 11, 2007, in which it identified several e-mail messages targeting the Philippine-based banks. Those messages appeared to have come from trustworthy and legitimate sources but they were not. TrendLabs also reported that cyber attacks are in full swing in the country and many attacks originated from Philippine-based Websites.

Related article: Computer Virus Writers Adopt New Strategy

» SPAMfighter News - 3/5/2008