US diplomat urges 2 major additions to Cybercrime Law

The Philippines should make two key additions to its Cybercrime Law in order to address the evolving and increasing number of online threats and cybercrime cases in the country, a top US diplomat said.

“There are two areas where we can see an opportunity to even better this legislation (Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012): Registering of SIM cards and the preservation of contact data for internet service providers,” US Embassy legal attaché Lamont Siller said during yesterday’s IT-BPM Cyber Security Summit.

“Both of these things would make life easier for law enforcement to investigate cyber-related crimes,” Siller added.

Siller, also a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), lauded the country’s current cyber laws but said it has a “couple of loop holes.”

“As a law enforcement officer it’s very difficult to track down. Maybe if there is a point of registration that must take place to register that SIM card with an identification card, this would give, law enforcement a starting point, especially in extortion cases where we see its very difficult to track down who is text messaging who and that is something Sen. Grace Poe is already pushing for,” he said.

“Another proposal is the fact that the internet service providers (ISPs) here are storing content data and when that data is requested from the law enforcement, a lot of times they don’t always have it. If the hack takes place, it takes more time for law enforcement in the Philippines to acquire that needed information to resolve such timely attack. If there was a mandate to make these ISPs store that data longer, that will be more helpful,” Siller added.

The Philippines and the US in August last year initiated a joint cybersecurity working group aimed at strengthening the capability of the Philippine government in addressing cyber intrusions and also in responding and assisting companies that fall victim to malicious cyber attacks.