Philippines Police to Get Cybercrime Training

Regional policemen will soon be trained to handle evidence related to“cyber crimes” through training to be conducted by the PhilippineNational Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG).

This nationwide mobile training on cybercrime takes effect this monthafter a recent directive approved by PNP director general ArturoLomibao, said police superintendent Gilbert Sosa, who heads CIDG’sAnti-Transnational Crime Division.

The PNP’s cybercrime unit will initially send its operatives to trainpolicemen in Region 7, Region 4, and Region 3 including Davao City.“Outside of Metro Manila, these areas have the most number of PCusers,” Sosa said in an interview with Computerworld Philippines.

The training will give emphasis on teaching regional policemen on howto properly preserve evidence during cybercrime-related cases, saidSosa. Police raids on suspected “cyber sex” dens are an example of acybercrime case, he noted.

“They (regional police) don’t have the capability to analyze evidenceyet so what we’d like to do is train them on how to properly preserveevidence until such time it reaches the forensics lab here in ourheadquarters,” Sosa said.

The CIDG’s cybercrime unit is composed of some 15 personnel, most ofthem graduates of Computer Science who have undergone certification viaa grant from software firm Microsoft. The group is also partly fundedby a grant from the Anti-Terrorism program of the US State Department.

The latter grant was used to purchase forensics equipment from abroad, Sosa said.

The Anti-Transnational Crime Division (ATCD) is mandated to conduct“overt and covert” operations against crimes like human trafficking,money laundering, arms smuggling, and piracy.

The ATCD also jointly manages the recently launched Government ComputerSecurity Incident Response Team or G-CSIRT with the Presidential TaskForce for the Security of Critical Infrastructures.

The G-CSIRT was created to combat security threats in government andother key sectors mentioned in the National Critical InfrastructureProtection Plan, namely, food and agriculture, transportation andcommunication, water, energy, health, emergency response services,manufacturing, banking and finance, strategic commercial centers, andcultural and religious sites and facilities.

By Lawrence Casiraya – Computerworld Philippines