EDITORIAL - Robbers without guns

One big piece of news that seems to have been sidelined by today’s more pressing issues was the arrest of four suspected Nigerian hackers last week in a condominium in Sucat, Muntinlupa City.

The operation conducted by the Cyber Crime Division of the National Bureau of Investigation led to the arrest of those later identified as Nkechukwu Sunday Promise Ekekwe, Emmanuel Obi Nwadkure, Divine Chinecherem Obioma, and Domike Izuchukom Obioma.

The group was blamed for hacking the security system of a bank last June 12, resulting in the loss of P167 million. According to the NBI, the group was able to bypass the bank’s security protocols and use the identity of the bank’s regular clients to withdraw money from Automated Teller Machines or make bank transfers.

This is no small feat considering how much they were able to steal given so little time --just three days, according to the NBI.

This incident raises two questions. First; how safe are the security systems of state-run banks? The bank that was victimized has been operating in this country for decades now and is actually one of the biggest state-run banks in the country.

For a bunch of hackers to be able to beat their system just like that doesn’t bode too well for that bank, or any bank for that matter. If they were able to do that to a big establishment, imagine what hackers with similar skills can do to smaller banks.

Second; are there other such groups operating here in the Philippines? By such groups we mean organized hacker gangs that are looking to target banks, lending institutions, and other such establishments --and essentially victimizing their clients. There are so many foreigners working and studying here that this can be a possibility.

Then again, it’s not just foreigner hackers we have to worry about; we have a lot of homegrown talent when it comes to hacking and making computer viruses. We only have to remember the “Love Bug” virus that hit computers all around the world 20 years ago. We can only imagine hacking skills have greatly improved since.

Eventually, this will also lead us to ask if a syndicate is involved in such operations. If so we have an even bigger problem than we thought.

The NBI deserves congratulations for their recent operation. But with this praise we must also ask them to be even more vigilant against groups that can silently and swiftly abscond with the hard-earned money of others without even leaving their rooms.