NextGen Day

An official of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) announced on Monday that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will pursue the filing of criminal proceedings against the masterminds behind a series of bank hacking incidents that occurred in December 2021.

Melchor Plabasan, head of the BSP’s Technology Risk and Innovation Supervision Department, gave this assurance during a hearing before the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions, and Currencies on the reported illegal online bank fund transfers involving two reputable banks in the country, BDO Unibank and UnionBank, in the fourth quarter of last year.

“The BSP is looking into it on its own. Plabasan told Senate Banking Committee Chairwoman Grace Poe, “The inquiry is essentially in relation to our supervisory and regulatory power, but NBI, on the other hand, is also conducting for the sake of prosecuting.”

In answer to a senator’s question on the incident, he replied, “There are people who ought to be prosecuted, and that’s within the purview of the NBI.”

Plabasan further told senators that the BSP is working closely with the National Bureau of Investigation and the two institutions involved in the event.

“In the BSP, we have a specific group called Cybersecurity Oversight and Surveillance, and that is basically the group’s mandate.” And, like other government agencies, we’re always working to improve our capabilities,” he added.

BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said yes when asked by Poe if the agency wants to expand its cybersecurity group, but added that banks and other financial institutions should do the same.

“Certainly, your honor…

Furthermore, your honor, BSP-supervised institutions should improve their cybersecurity capabilities,” Diokno stated.

Plabasan, on the other hand, refused to disclose any additional information on the online hacking event, claiming that the inquiry is still underway, but that some of the 700 compromised accounts have already been restored by the relevant bank.

“We also expect to be able to present the findings of our research…

“However, unfortunately, it is too early to say,” he said.

“The incident is admittedly pretty sophisticated; it definitely necessitates ‘yung cyber forensic examination.” Unfortunately, we are unable to say with clarity what went wrong at this time, but we expect to have something by the end of the month, which we will send to the Monetary Board,” Plabasan said.

Poe, on the other hand, highlighted that the government and lawmakers must address the increased complexity of financial transactions and support the country’s faster financial inclusion.

Under the “new normal,” the senator believes that enactment of the planned Financial Consumer Protection Act, or FCPA, has become even more important.

“As more Filipinos open bank accounts or use e-money accounts, the aim of reaching 70% by 2023 appears to be within reach,” Poe added.

“However, the expansion brings its own set of problems, ranging from small-scale fraud and investment schemes to the hacking of one of the Philippines’ largest banks, which resulted in the compromising of at least 700 accounts.” ‘Yung perang iniipon at pinagpaguran, bigla na lang nawala nawala nawala nawala nawala nawala nawala nawala (Money that you have worked hard to save was suddenly taken from you),” she bemoaned.

“Therefore, there is a need for a law that enumerates all of the rights of financial consumers—ordinary depositors, consumers, and policyholders—in order to defend their interests.” This measure will help ensure that our financial service providers are functioning at peak efficiency and that regulators can effectively oversee the system,” the senator added.

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