NBI warns exporters on online transactions
Export Development Council
September 20, 2016

“Cybercrime is rampant and statistically, has the most number of criminal acts”, Investigative Agent Francis Señora of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) stated in his talk entitled “How to Avoid Cybercrime in Export Transactions” at the Philippine Export Competitiveness Program Seminar of the Department of Trade and Industry- Export Marketing Bureau.

He informed exporters about the different forms of hacking, such as (1) E-mail spoofing, a forgery of a header making an e-mail appears to come from a particular source; (2) phishing or fraud, where hackers acquire important information, such as usernames and password through internet by creating a website that disguises like a legitimate site. He emphasized that the third is the Social Engineering, the most dangerous form of hacking where too much personal information may be given.

To avoid cybercrime, Agent Señora advises the following: be conscious with all postings in social media and internet; be observant on the questions being asked especially by strangers; do not download nor open an attached document from an unknown sender; invest in using the company’s email rather than using your personal email; do not use Yahoo in online transaction because it does not follow a lot of protocols on the internet.

Moreover, you must use mnemonic passwords which agent Señora called the “super password. Mnemonic password uses the first letter of a random story that is retained in your memory. For example, I cross the street will come up as ICTS, and then add numerical digits for more secured password. It’s not advisable to use birth dates as a password since it is the easiest way the hackers can access private accounts of an individual.□