CHAMBER LANE
Preventing criminal hackers Global leaders have taken cognizance of the damage that cybercrime can cause that the Budapest Convention was crafted and designed to address Internet and computer crime
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated awareness and shown how convenient and practical the Internet is in business and people’s lives. More and more are migrating to the digital world. When the lockdown in Metro Manila was partially eased, we witnessed long queues of people at computer shops frantically getting themselves their needed units and smartphones. Prices even of second hand units spiked due to the sudden surge of buyers. Business meetings, WFH, seminars, shopping, socials, entertainment and several other events are being conducted through the Internet. The sanity of people locked up in their homes, as well as life lines of many businesses, was kept intact, thanks to these gadgets and technology.
The fear of cyberattacks should not deter economies in getting on board the digital world.
Internet users the world over are estimated to reach six billion by 2022, or roughly three quarters of the projected eight billion global population. By the year 2030, 90 percent of the estimated 8.5 billion population will have Internet connectivity. Jack Ma projects that that by 2030, 85 percent of business will be e-commerce and 99 percent of trade affairs will be online. Google reports that in a period of two weeks between 9 to 23 March, 317,000 new websites were created.
As the world gets deeper into this technological age, the underground cyberworld similarly tends to be more ingenious and evil. Internet users, over the past years, have been subjected to phishing. (Merriam Webster defines phishing as a scam by which an Internet user is duped, as by a deceptive email message, into revealing personal or confidential info, which the scammer can use illicitly.) Google reports that phishing attacks during the pandemic grew by 350 percent, from 149,000 in January to 522,000 attacks through March. Today, criminal hackers have developed a device known as ransomware, which has the capability of denying access to one’s computer system. Technology journal,
ZDNet, describes ransomware as a “brutally simple idea with increasing sophistication.” Criminals need not “steal data to make money, they just have to make it impossible for one to access it again, by encrypting it,” unless ransom is paid. Internet blackmailers breaching Xerox company’s system was likewise reported only late June. Other victims reported to have been breached by the ransomware were the University of California and LG Electronics.
Global leaders have taken cognizance of the damage that cybercrime can cause that the Budapest Convention was crafted and designed to address Internet and computer crime through the harmonization of national laws, improvement of investigative techniques and cooperation among nations. Unfortunately, only 55 countries have ratified and entered into effect the said treaty. The USA, Japan, France, UK, South Africa and the Philippines, among others, were the early birds that acceded to the treaty.
The Philippines effectively adopted the Budapest Convention last July of 2018. The government, however, needs to be more proactive in targeting computer criminals and crooks who email false announcements on inheritance or money-related matters. The war against computer criminals should be as serious as it is against terrorism. Presently, we have had incidents, such as the Comelec voters’ data, Bangladesh money laundering, the Wirecard issue and countless of phishing moments. While the Philippines has still to reach the level of a sophisticated digital migrant — which we pose to be by 2030 or even earlier — it may be worthwhile at this stage to promulgate stricter laws, benchmark the modules instituted by the more advanced nations to combat cybercrimes, and create a non-political and highly technical group that will continuously supervise, monitor and coordinate with its cross-border counterparts on cyberspace activities, with the end view of being several steps ahead of hackers and the black web, and keeping them at bay at all times.
Meanwhile, Raja Murthy of Mumbai provides the following advise that I believe everyone should heed. These are:
1. Never share personal and financial info over the phone, email or SMS. 2. Use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication. 3. Regularly monitor financial transactions, contact your bank should you suspect something.
4. Turn on the automatic software update feature on your computer, mobile and other connected devices. 5. Use a reputable anti-virus and Internet security software package. 6. Ignore e-mail messages that offer things that sound too good to be true.
The fear of cyberattacks should not deter economies in getting on board the digital world. Cybercrime is preventable through cross-border cooperation, sharing of information, continued vigilance and strict implementation of laws. To procrastinate or refuse to be on board digitalization, however, will only leave us far behind and unconnected with the rest of the world.