DOJ MOA with bankers’ group vs cybercrime being finalized
THE Department of Justiceoffice of Cybercrime (DOJOOC) disclosed that a memorandum of agreement is now being finalized with the Banking Association of the Philippines (BAP) for a more strategic effort in fighting cyber criminals targeting the banking industry.
DOJ-OOC Officer-in-charge, lawyer Charito Zamora said his office has been constantly coordinating with the BAP in order to come up with a comprehensive approach to shield the banking sector from cyber attacks.
Recently, several account holders of BDO, the country’s largest bank, complained about losing thousands of pesos due to unauthorized transfers made to a Union Bank of the Philippines account under a fake name.
The National Privacy Commission has started investigating the hacking incident believed to have affected close to 700 clients.
“The DOJ through the OOC is closely working with the Banking Association of the Philippines [BAP] towards achieving the common goal of establishing a collective, coordinated, and strategic cyber response within the banking industry through information sharing and collaboration,” Zamora said.
“To this end, a Memorandum of Understanding [MOU] between the DOJ and BAP is being finalized to establish a formal agreement that would promote a genuine atmosphere of collaboration and alliance through an effective and efficient partnership meant to curb cybercrime and cyberrelated offenses nationwide,” he added.
Earlier, Senator Joel Villanueva urged the government to form an interagency task force to investigate and come up with measures to prevent more cyber attacks on the banking industry.
He suggested that the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the National Privacy Commission and the National Bureau of Investigation be part of the task force.