Partylist nominee to push for laws vs cyber crimes

CEBU, Philippines —  A Cebuano Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) leader pushes for sound laws and regulations in the banking sector against hacking, phishing and other forms of cyber crime.

BPO Partylist President and first nominee Mike Cubos said if given the chance to serve and represent the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Industry as a partylist group in Congress, he pledged to formulate and enact appropriate laws against hacking, phishing and other types of cyber crime.

Cubos, who represents the Bangon Philippine Outsourcing, Inc. (BPO) Partylist made this announcement following the phishing scam that befell a group of teachers in their payroll accounts with the government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines.

According to reports, the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) claimed that some of its members lost money ranging from P26,000 to P121,000 from their Landbank accounts, which were then transferred to other banks as well as GCash accounts.

On Monday, January 24, Landbank issued an official statement, assuring that its systems remain “safe and secure,” but found out in its initial investigation that the devices of some teachers were hacked via phishing, which compromised their personal information.

Cubos, who is also the vice president for mobility at Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), said in order to prevent such incident to happen in the future, “there must be a uniform or standardized security protocols in the banking and financial industry and in the annual system audits by the government.”

Cubos believes that its vital nowadays to have an institutionalized national awareness drive on phishing attack prevention and protection.

“Make it mandatory for new accounts to undergo a quick anti-hacking/phishing lessons before a new account is opened,” he noted.

Many people are not techy but they still must be protected. Bank and financial companies must be mandated to have. For example an insurance for such eventualities,” Cubos added.

Moreover, Cubos plans to push for the creation of a separate but attached agency called Cyber Security Agency that independently look at computed-related crimes with its own budget and regulatory powers.

“We all have these in mind, and of course, put it into action as one of our legislative agenda once we will be successful in our historic bid to grab a seat in the Congress,” Cubos pointed out.