Cybersecurity expert warns vs identity theft through ‘impersonation’

Inquirer file photo

MANILA, Philippines — A cybersecurity expert on Tuesday warned of identity theft through “impersonation.”

In an exclusive media session on Cybersecurity Risk Management with Senior Threat Researcher David Sancho, he advised the public to be vigilant against scammers who use stolen identities to deceive others.

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“For a regular user, I’d be more concerned about stealing my information in terms of user impersonation or monetizing that information,” he said.

“So, if I am an end-user, a family person who has a computer at home, I’d be a lot more concerned of them hitting me or trying to scam me somehow with virtual kidnapping or any of these stories,” Sancho added.

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One common scam involves fraudsters pretending to be relatives in order to ask for money from their victims.

Sancho specializes in web threats and other emerging technologies. He has over 25 years of experience in the security field, and has written and published a number of research papers on malware tendencies.

Last February, the  Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group reported that cases of online scams in the country dropped by 40 percent in the first month of the year.

It said that only 624 cases were logged in January, far from 1,045 cases in the same month in 2023.

Meanwhile, last April, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. adopted a six-year cybersecurity plan to improve the country’s security and resilience in cyberspace.