The National Privacy Commission (NPC) is collaborating with an attached agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to strengthen its digital forensic capabilities.
In a news statement issued on Thursday, the privacy watchdog said it had inked a memorandum of agreement with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) to provide capacity building to NPC personnel in the operation of former’s Digital Forensic Laboratory.
“This is in recognition of the significant synergies and complementarity on the respective duties and functions of both agencies in the protection of data privacy and cyber security,” NPC said.
Under the agreement, CICC will provide the NPC resource persons, training programs, modules and materials covering several topics.
These include techniques and best practices in digital investigations; admissibility, chain of custody and preservation of digital evidence; and operation, maintenance and full utilization of the digital forensic equipment. Privacy Commissioner Raymund Enriquez Liboro said that the partnership shows both parties’ interest in safeguarding the data privacy and cyber security.
“With professional and ethical competence and integrity as our touchstones, both agencies will utilize and maximize the resources of the government for the utmost benefit of the people we serve,” he added.
For its part, the NPC will hold data privacy briefings, seminars and workshops for CICC personnel. Both parties may also conduct joint data security and privacy probes to further their cooperation.
“In this undertaking between the NPC and CICC, any data received by one from the other shall be treated as confidential information, which may not be disclosed to any person without written authority from the other party,” the privacy agency said.
The NPC and CICC, in addition, should adhere to the provisions of the Data Privacy Act of 2012 and Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
Liboro, in a recent event, highlighted the importance of data governance, especially during a pandemic when sharing and keeping information in a safe and secure manner is much more needed.
The privacy commissioner said there should be “focus on data governance and expose the gaps in over-all Philippine data management.”
Liboro explained that securing good quality data would enable efficient decision making and improve citizen satisfaction with public services. In addition, he said that obtaining accurate data helps the government identify and develop new services that can benefit the public.
“Technology and data will be instrumental in defeating Covid-19. We are more confident that we can curb this pandemic because of this technology and data,” he said.