Cyber criminals

With technology continuing to advance and grow at breakneck speed, criminals are also finding a lot of opportunities to victimize people through the Internet. One such victim is Loren Legarda who wrote to warn us that a fake website and email address using the domain name “lorenlegarda.com” is being used to solicit funds and spread false information about the senator’s advocacies and other agenda. The fake website is reportedly being maintained by a certain J.S. Lim who claims to be a Singapore resident. Loren vehemently denies having authorized the construction and maintenance of such website, clarifying that her official website is “lorenlegarda.com.ph” which her staff uses to provide information on her activities as a senator.

There seems to be a lot of cyber crimes going on with a lot of known people being targeted. One of the most common is “identity theft” where hackers steal your password to access personal information like your address, phone number, bank account, credit card details and other valuable data. I myself became the victim of a hacker who stole my password to try and solicit money from people listed in my email’s contacts folder. Fortunately, our IT manager Rommel Miranda was able to crack the program and the password used by the hacker. Experts say “social” websites like Friendster, Facebook, MySpace or Multiply provide good hunting grounds for cyber criminals since a lot of information about a person are freely posted – from age to birthday, the name of kids and boyfriends, hobbies, pets, school and what have you. Most of the time, Filipinos use their birthday or their spouse’s or kids’ names as their password, making it very easy to crack.

Even banks and credit card companies were victimized through “phishing” (a play on “fishing”) where organized syndicates send fake email notices asking people to enter confidential information in attached links purportedly to update their records. Once a user “bites” and clicks on the “phishing” link, he will be required to re-enter his username and password – which gives cyber crooks access to his personal details. And before a victim knows it, he would soon be saddled with huge credit card bills or his bank account would have been depleted.

But the more dangerous hackers are those who enter government databases and steal classified information, like British Gary McKinnon who dodged topnotch security measures to penetrate the databases of NASA and the Pentagon. Also known as “Solo,” McKinnon was initially arrested in 2002, with American prosecutors describing his feat as “the biggest military computer hack of all time.” The 42-year-old self-taught IT expert claims his motives for hacking 92 restricted US government sites were purely out of curiosity, not malice. The United States has been trying to get him extradited and this looks like a possibility with McKinnon very recently losing his appeal before the European Court of Human Rights. The cyber crook’s lawyers have argued against extradition claiming their client is suffering from Asperger’s syndrome (one form of autism).

If one could recall, in 2000, a young Filipino hacker named Onel de Guzman wreaked havoc all over the world from the Philippines to Asia to Europe and the US with his “I Love You Virus” that clogged up emails, stole passwords and corrupted files and destroyed computer systems – with the damage estimated at $5.5 billion. De Guzman claims he may have released the virus by accident, and charges were eventually dropped against him since Republic Act 8792 or the E-commerce Law did not have provisions that specifically applied to computer hacking. Obviously, we need a law that has more specific provisions and tougher punishment for offenses such as cyberporn including online child pornography, phishing, hacking and other cyber crimes that are not covered in the E-Commerce Act. As far as we know, legislation on cyber crime has been pending in the past two Congresses – and it’s about time something is done about these hi-tech criminals before they victimize more people and worse, gain access to sensitive government information – with very dire consequences.

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Remembering Amorsolo

Our good friend Bonjin Bolinao invited me to the launching of a rare exhibit of Fernando Amorsolo masterpieces at the Peninsula the other day. Amorsolo paintings are considered as gold and are such great treasures that command a high price. One Amorsolo which I vividly remember as a child was a photograph-painting of the famous “Planting Rice” which my mother kept hanging on the wall. During those days, rice was very abundant and I was always warned to finish every grain on my plate because there are many hungry people in India. Well, guess what – there are many hungry people in this country today and we have also become the biggest importer of rice in the world. Anyway, the Amorsolo exhibit will run from September 2008 to April 2009 at the Ayala Museum, GSIS Museum, Lopez Museum, Metropolitan Museum, National Museum, Vargas Museum and the Yuchengco Museum. I encourage the youth to visit these museums and appreciate the work of great Filipino artists like Fernando Amorsolo.

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We must support the troops

As hostilities in Mindanao continue to escalate, it’s not too far-fetched that the number of casualties from our troops, including members of the government-sponsored Citizens Armed Force Geographical Unit or CAFGU, would also rise. According to Congresswoman Nikki Prieto-Teodoro, injured soldiers get P20,000 as government compensation while those who die in the line of duty receive P50,000 by way of death benefits and burial assistance. CAFGUs on the other hand receive nothing at all. The Tarlac Congresswoman is therefore appealing to everyone to help the Golden Rooster Foundation raise funds and help the grieving families of our soldiers and CAFGUS. You may call 931-5172 or 0917-8126882 for more information. We must support our troops and help the families of those who sacrifice their lives for this country.

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Email: [email protected]