Villanueva: Heighten cybersecurity measures to foil digital pickpockets preying on workers' e-wallets, bank accounts

If ordinary employees guard their hard-earned money against pickpockets, banks should also make sure that cybercriminals don't pick the digital wallets of those who gave them their pay for safekeeping, Senator Joel Villanueva said today.

"Payroll money entrusted by both employers and their workers should be kept safe at all times," the chair of the Senate labor committee said.

This as he called on government authorities to treat the security breach in one bank "as if it were a cyber attack on our country of the grave kind."

"This goes beyond one company. The national reputation is at stake. The Philippines cannot be seen as having a porous banking system because such weakness will only entice cyber criminals to attack us, " Villanueva said.

He said a swift solution is needed "because we cannot be seen as a prime destination of cybercrime, a haven for hackers."

"Solving this crime early - perpetrators identified, and the modus explained - should signal to our people the comforting assurance that their hard-earned money is safe with banks," he said.

He urged the government to convene an inter-agency task force "that will immediately get to the bottom of this and institute measures that will prevent it from happening again."

Any delay, he said, will corrode the public's faith in our banking system, "a relationship based on trust."

He said the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the National Privacy Commission, the National Bureau of Investigation, among others, can be among the agencies in the task force.

Villanueva welcomed the statement by the concerned bank that the interest of victims will be protected as "most reassuring and is the correct thing to do."

Villanueva: Palakasin ang seguridad kontra mga 'online mandurukot' na nambibiktima ng manggagawa

Kung ang ordinaryong mamamayan ay bantay-sarado sa kanilang pitaka laban sa mandurukot, ganun din sana ang pagsisikap ng mga bangko laban sa mga "online mandurukot" na ang biktima ay karaniwang manggagawa at ang kanilang pinaghirapang sweldo at deposito, ayon kay Senator Joel Villanueva.

"Sana po laging safe ang pera sa payroll ng parehong negosyante at manggagawa sa mga bangko," ani Villanueva, chair ng Senate labor committee.

Dagdag pa ng senador, dapat umanong tingnan ng gobyerno ang mga security breach sa isang bangko na isang atake sa ating bansa, hindi lamang sa iisang institusyon.

"Hindi lang po ito isang kumpanya. Ang reputasyon po natin bilang bansa ang nakataya dito. Hindi maaaring ituring ang Pilipinas na may maluwag na banking system dahil makikita itong isang malaking kahinaan ng mga kriminal," ani Villanueva.

Kailangan ng isang mabilis na solusyon dito para hindi tayo makita na "prime destination" para sa mga cybercrime at hackers.

"Ang paglutas sa krimeng ito, kasama ang pagkilala sa mga may sala at ipaliwanag kung paano nangyari, ay magpapadala ng malinaw na mensahe sa mga mamamayan na ligtas ang kanilang pinaghirapang pera sa mga bangko," sabi pa ni Villanueva.

Hinimok niya ang gobyerno na magtatag ng isang inter-agency task force na mag-iimbestiga sa nangyari at magtatalaga ng mga panuntunan para hindi na ito maulit.

Anumang pagkabalam ay magdudulot ng pagkadismaya sa ating banking system, isang relasyong naka-ugat sa tiwala.

Aniya, maaaring ang Department of Information and Communications Technology, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, National Privacy Commission, National Bureau of Investigation, at iba pa ang mga maging kasapi ng inter-agency task force.

Samantala, pinuri naman ni Villanueva ang pahayag ng naturang bangko na ang interest ng mga biktima ang kanilang proprotektahan sa insidenteng ito.