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Benise Balaoing

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MANILA (UPDATED) — The Department of Information and Communication Techonology (DICT) on Monday said it has no power to check the systems of fintech firms when they run into problems that affect users.DICT Assistant Secretary Renato Paraiso, agency spokesperson, made these comments when asked for details what GCash said were errors in a &quot;system reconciliation process&quot; that prompted users to report unauthorized transactions in their accounts.<div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/2024/11/11/fuel-prices-jump-in-mid-november-956" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" title="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/2024/11/11/fuel-prices-jump-in-mid-november-956">GCash: Customers&#x27; accounts remain secure amid &#x27;system reconciliation&#x27;</a></div>&quot;Kami ho sa pamahalaan particularly ho sa DICT eto rin ho talaga yung problema natin, na private institutions encounter these kinds of [problems]. Hindi ho natin ma-check or hindi ho kami makapasok dahil wala naman tayong regulatory powers over them,&quot; he said on TeleRadyo Serbisyo.(We in government really have a problem when private institutions encounter these kinds of problems. We cannot check because we do not have regulatory powers over them)Asked if this means they cannot audit the system problems of fintech firms, Paraiso said DICT only has the power to check systems of government agencies.&quot;However, when it comes to private institutions, admittedly, yun ho yung isa sa mga gaps ng batas na sana mapunuan natin (that is one of the gaps that we need to fill),&quot; he explained. Paraiso said the department continues to urge passage of the proposed Cybersecurity Act, which creates a National Cybersecurity Council tasked with &quot;[enhancing] the public-private partnership in the field of information sharing involving cyberattacks, threats and vulnerabilities to cyber threats&quot; among other functions.A Senate version of the bill has been pending at the Senate Science and Technology Committee since 2022.<div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/2024/10/11/dict-seeks-passage-of-cybersecurity-bill-in-next-congress-1920" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" title="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/2024/10/11/dict-seeks-passage-of-cybersecurity-bill-in-next-congress-1920">DICT seeks passage of Cybersecurity Bill in next Congress</a></div>He said that the government should have the power to look into private institutions in case of cybersecurity concerns.&quot;Even if it’s not an attack, it’s a problem with their systems that affects yung mga kababayan na natin, dapat ho payagan ng pamahalaan na ma-check,&quot; he said.(If it affects our citizens, government should be able to check)Paraiso added that panic over the system reconciliation issues also gave scammers an opportunity to get sensitive information from potential victims.&quot;Ang nangyari ho sa GCash marami din hong nagsamantala na nagpapadala ho ng mga fake messages in order to get personal information ho doon sa mga clients ho ng GCash, even yung mga financial informations ho nila,&quot; he said.(What happened was people sent fake messages to get personal information from GCash clients, including their financial information.) <div>JOINT INVESTIGATION</div>The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said it is also closely coordinating with G-Xchange Inc, the operator of GCash to quickly resolve the issue. The central bank said it is also doing its own probe to &quot;to identify possible vulnerabilities and review compliance with regulations and policies.&quot; The DICT and GCash also agreed to conduct a joint investigation on the incident. DICT Undersecretary for Infostructure Management Cybersecurity and Upskilling Jeffrey Ian Dy told ABS-CBN News that the GCash management voluntarily agreed to cooperate with the agency.Dy believes there was an error on the IT system of the said e-wallet platform and that it was not the customers’ fault.“In this particular case, It was not an end-user error, it is very clear that it was an error on the part of IT system of GCash. Nangyayari naman po talaga ito,” according to Dy.Despite this, Dy said consumers should not stop using online platforms and transactions.   &quot;Let’s not stop using online system because this is the way it forward and don’t worry government agencies like Bangko Sentral and us will be monitoring closely their compliance to cyber security standards,” Dy added.Rob Ramos was one of the customers of GCash who initially posted on social media his experience with the e-wallet operator.Ramos told ABS-CBN News he lost P10,000 on his account midnight of Saturday, November 9 and he only discovered this the following day when he was about to pay his medicines in a drugstore.“Siyempre na-frustrate po, medyo nagalit ako kasi ang assurance ni GCash is secured yung pera po namin sa kanila and then all of a sudden nawala po ng ganon kabilis. So ang naging worry: ko maibabalik pa ba yung pera na nawala dun sa mismong account namin,” Ramos explained.(Of course I was frustrated, a bit angry because GCash&#x27;s assurance was that our money was secure with them, and then all of sudden it&#x27;s gone. So I was worried if the money could be returned to my account.)He immediately reported the incident to his service provider and initially was able to recover P9,000. After following up with GCash, the remaining balance of P1,000 was transferred to his account.<div>ORGANIZED BREACH? </div>Meanwhile, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) is also investigating the probability of an “organized breach” of certain GCash accounts that caused the unauthorized fund transfers over the weekend. In a statement, CICC Executive Director Alexander Ramos said it started focusing on organized breach instead of a system glitch when the agency started to look into the case of popular actress Pokwang.The actress posted on her social media that she lost P85,000  in her GCash account and alleged that unauthorized fund transfers  were sent to  some accounts. Ramos asked Pokwang to cooperate with CICC  and explain to the public what really transpired.  “She has to confirm and identify whose numbers are those that received the cash. Does she know them or not? It confuses the general public as to the truth of the fact that happened to her GCash account,” Ramos said. The Inter-Agency Response Center (IARC) hotline number 1326 has so far received 21 complaints on the  unauthorized fund transfers  over the weekend.Meanwhile, ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. France Castro said the “repeated system failures affecting GCash users are deeply concerning.”She said the fintech firm should not dismiss incidents as isolated cases and should disclose how many users were affected and what steps it is taking to prevent future incidents.<div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/2024/11/10/cicc-report-scams-to-government-instead-of-ranting-on-social-media-951" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" title="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/2024/11/10/cicc-report-scams-to-government-instead-of-ranting-on-social-media-951">CICC: Report scams to 1326 hotline instead of ‘ranting on social media’</a></div>

The DICT said it cannot check the systems of fintech firms when they run into problems that affect a lot of Filipinos.

The DICT said it cannot check the systems of fintech firms when they run into problems that affect a lot of Filipinos.

DICT has no authority to audit fintech firms amid GCash 'system reconciliation'

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DICT has no authority to audit fintech firms amid GCash 'system reconciliation'

Benise Balaoing,

ABS-CBN News

Published November 11, 2024 12:32 PM PHT

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Updated November 11, 2024 11:40 PM PHT

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