Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 23) – The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said Friday it has formed a special task group to facilitate quicker response to phishing incidents and other cyber scams.
The agency met on Wednesday with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), the three major telecommunication firms, banks, e-wallet companies, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and the National Privacy Commission (NPC) to discuss cyber threats and cyber scams.
“We have agreed to form a special task group that will focus directly on dealing with these, this is not even emerging, this is a consistent and expanding threat on our cyberspace,” DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy said, highlighting the need for a collaborative approach among government, private sector and law enforcement to cybercrime response.
“Importante kasi dapat maunahan natin. Hindi natin antayin na pumutok ang isang malaking scandalo, malaking scam, maraming mabiktima bago tayo aaksyon. So preemptive, pinatawag ko sila,” he added.
[Translation: It’s important to get ahead of it. We can’t wait for a big scandal, big scam, with many victims to blow up before we take action. So, I called for them preemptively.]
“Our objective is from the moment a potential phishing or cyber scam is reported, that within a short period of time, hopefully within 24 hours we would be able to take preventive measures to make sure it does not expand,” he said.
The DICT chief said the special task force will meet next week to discuss the procedures and guidelines: from reporting cyber scams to preventive measures.
