Philippines Lacks Computer Emergency Response TeamsThe Philippines currently lacks emergency teams that can immediately respond to hacking incidents, virus attacks, Web site defacements and other forms of online intrusions. This observation comes from the Philippine Computer Emergency Response Team (PH-CERT), an organization made up of several programmers and legal experts, who spoke at a recent meeting at Trend Micro Philippines' office in Libis, Quezon City. Albert De la Cruz, head of PH-CERT, said emergency teams have yet to be created in the Philippines, unlike the U.S., some European countries and other Asian countries, where teams already are being tapped to react quickly to online intrusions. This is dangerous, according to De la Cruz, because traffic is increasing across information technology networks in the Philippines, creating tempting targets for hackers. "With the linking up of the vast terrestrial and mobile connections across the country, the responsibility of securing the connections becomes all the more important," he said. De la Cruz, who is also president of mobile applications developer WolfPac, added that government dedication to push the creation of emergency teams also is lacking. He pointed to financial constraints as a major reason why the government is not yet that aggressive in pushing for the formation of the teams. In this scenario, PH-CERT is advocating for a two-step private-sector-led program to establish response teams in the Philippines. A short-term plan involves getting all local computer security companies together to create PH-CERT's Web site. The medium-term plan entails the development of an online incidence reporting system wherein victims could report alleged hackings, Web site defacement, and virus attacks through PH-CERT's Web site. "Our most important goal is information dissemination to make Filipinos realize the potential dangers of hacking and virus attacks on their networks. The Web site will feature basic data on computer security and probably news on the latest security technologies," De la Cruz said. PH-CERT also intends to provide its services to government agencies - for free. PH-CERT hopes to follow the U.S. CERT response model, with the organization's leaders noting that American emergency teams have successfully captured several hackers while preventing a number of attempts to illegal enter U.S. government computers. "(Teams) become more important as the Philippines' Government Information System Plan takes shape," De la Cruz said. He explained that the system plan, a government initiative aimed at connecting all government agencies into one large network, would likely be a prime candidate for hack attacks. At the PH-CERT meeting, Jamz Yaneza, senior software consultant for Trend Micro Philippines, suggested that the Philippine government should strengthen its clampdown on hackers by supporting the formation of emergency teams. He said many hacking incidents have been left unreported because many of the victims do not know who to approach. "Usually, the virus vendors are approached first, but many victims do not report simply because there is no immediate office that could respond to such intrusions. An (emergency response team), if it's not necessary now, would be very important in the next few years, especially with all the Internet-related projects around," Yaneza said. Trend Micro is on the Web at http://www.antivirus.com. Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com 07:54 CST (20020416/WIRES ONLINE, TELECOM, BUSINESS/) COPYRIGHT 2002 Washingtonpost Newsweek Interactive
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