By Tracy Cabrera
TAGUIG, METRO MANILA —The country is facing a Covid-19 pandemic and amidst the ongoing health crisis, cybercriminals have taken advantage of the people’s need for updates and guidance on what to do during these times and as more and more Filipinos go online for their financial transactions amid the imposition of health safety measures, officials have warned of a surge in cybercrime as criminals have also adjusted to the so -called ‘new normal’.
This is the reason why, telecommunications giant Globe Telecom initiated efforts to block some 2,521 sites featuring child pornography as a way to clamp down on the online exploitation of minors.
In a statement, Globe disclosed that the sites were identified by law enforcement agencies and endorsed by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for blocking.
“There is a need for the lawmakers and law enforcers to address certain realities especially on how the internet works in order for ISPs to effectively help in addressing this issue,” Globe chief information security officer Anton Bonifacio pointed out.
“The filtering software can be viewed as an important first step but more needs to be done,” he said. “The digital ecosystem has evolved rapidly and ISPs (internet service providers) cannot win this battle alone,” Bonifacio added.
Globe has reportedly invested some US$2.7 million in its content filtering system so far.
Internet companies, like Globe, also face challenges as they seek to balance privacy protection while combating sites showing child exploitation and sexual abuse.
“These illegal sites are generally not inside or hosted in the ISP’s servers, just as much as Facebook, YouTube, or Google isn’t,” Bonifacio stressed.
“They are usually hosted in the cloud, or off-shore servers, and fully encrypted, which limits the effectiveness of our content-based filters,” he revealed.
The Globe official clarified, however, that the telco is limited on the content it can view “unless we break the encryption, which would be difficult to do without being intrusive to our customer’s devices.”
Still, Globe said it remains active in supporting government efforts in line with the passage of Republic Act 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act, which mandates that all ISPs to install technology, program or software to ensure that access to or transmittal of any form of child pornography will be blocked or filtered. (AI/MTVN)
