THE NATIONAL Privacy Commission (NPC) said it needs a budget of P510 million for next year to boost its capacity to probe data breaches in the country.
“Right now, we don’t have the capacity to investigate deeply the potential breaches, we don’t have the equipment of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), or let’s say the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group or the cybercrime (unit) of the Philippine National Police,” NPC Commissioner John Henry D. Naga told Tuesday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing on the proposed P9.73-billion budget of the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) and its attached agencies.
Citing a report by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, Mr. Naga said the Philippines ranked second in countries most attacked by web threats last year.
The country accounted for 49.8% of the attacks recorded, which were based on web-based cyber threats detected and blocked by Kaspersky’s security software.
Senate President Pro-Tempore Lorna Regina “Loren” B. Legarda told the same hearing that the Senate should hold an executive or special hearing looking into the country’s vulnerability to web-based attacks.
In a July study, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said suspicious transactions linked to online sexual abuse and exploitation of children reached a total of 182,729 from 2020 to 2022. The transactions amounted to P1.56 billion in the past three years.
Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri said earlier this month that excess intelligence funds should go to the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and National Security Agency (NSA), citing the need to protect the country from cyberattacks. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
