July 2021 | International Law Alerts | Cybersecurity

The Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) has urged the public to heed financial institutions’ advice regarding best practices on how to protect themselves against cybercriminals.

President Joe Biden said on Saturday, July 3, he has directed U.S. intelligence agencies to investigate who was behind a sophisticated ransomware attack that hit hundreds of American businesses and led to suspicions of Russian gang involvement.

German police have arrested more than 750 people and seized a large haul of weapons and drugs after infiltrating a communications service used by criminals, authorities said on Tuesday, July 6.

Coordinated campaigns by fake bot accounts have flooded social media for years. One data specialist describes how these networks contribute to disinformation.

Morgan Stanley has disclosed that personal data of some of its corporate clients was stolen in January in a data breach that involved a third-party vendor and hackers accessed information, including social security numbers.

Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky on Wednesday, July 14, said it had discovered “a rare, widescale advanced persistent threat (APT) campaign against users in Southeast Asia, most notably Myanmar and the Philippines.”

The phone of French President Emmanuel Macron was on a list of potential targets for potential surveillance on behalf of Morocco in the Pegasus spyware case, French daily Le Monde reported on Tuesday, July 20.

Account holders from Security Bank have banded together to claim losses totaling more than P5.7 million, allegedly stemming from phishing and unauthorized transactions performed on their accounts.

A member of the House of Representatives warned that the operations of Dito Telecommunity Corp., the third major telecom player in the country, could be affected if China Telecom (Americas) Corp. is eventually banned in the United States.

An Australian senator warned that China may use Communist Party-controlled China Telecom and DITO Telecommunity as “Trojan horses” to infiltrate the infrastructure of smaller nations in the Indo-China region.

VMware Philippines is committed to accelerating the innovation and transformation of financial services organizations as they strengthen their digital relationship with their customers, according to country manager Walter So.

Digital Pilipinas, a movement that aims to influence change through technology and innovation, was launched last week by government and industry leaders from both the Philippines and Singapore.