Hacker faces two years in prison

CEBU, Philippines - A Las Piñas court slapped a two-year prison term and a P100,000 fine on a businesswoman for hacking into the telephone system of a multinational company.

  Edraline M. Ycot was found guilty on November 25, 2009 of violating Section 33 of R.A. 8792 or the Electronic Commerce Act (ECA) for illegally accessing in 2004 the PABX of Trend Micro Inc. (TMI), a client of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT).

  Ycot is the first in the country to be convicted of Private Automated Branch Exchange (PABX) hacking in violation of the ECA.

  Las Piñas Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 79 Judge Marjorie T. Uyengco-Nolasco said Ycot was guilty of PABX hacking which is defined as “the unauthorized access into or interference in a computer system/server or information and communications system; or any access in order to corrupt, alter, steal, or destroy using a computer or other similar information and communication devises, without the knowledge and consent of the owner of the computer information and communication system.”

  The case stemmed from complaints by TMI regarding their PLDT billing statements (2004) which reflected international calls to places such as the Middle East, United States, Japan, Hong Kong, India, among others. These calls were not placed by TMI’s authorized employees.

  Acting on these complaints, investigators were able to trace the fraudulent international calls to three telephones which were subscribed by various persons located at No. 74 San Isidro St., Carmencita Village, Barangay Talon, Las Piñas City.

  After careful study, on 15 July 2004, Judge Winlove M. Dumayas of the Makati RTC Branch 59 granted the application for a search warrant on Ycot’s house and on the following day a composite team from the Philippine National Police, barangay officials and PLDT representatives served the search warrant and caught Ms. Ycot connecting fraudulent international calls using the TMI PABX system.

  PLDT welcomed Ycot’s conviction and warned hackers and other fraudsters such as toll bypass and/or International Simple Resale (ISR) operators to stop their illegal practices or face the full penalties under the law.

  In a separate case (G.R. No. 155076 Luis Marcos P. Laurel vs. Hon. Zeus C. Abrogar, etc., et al.) filed by PLDT against toll bypass and/or ISR operators, the Supreme Court in an En Banc resolution last year (January 13, 2009) ruled that the business of providing telecommunication and telephone service is a personal property under Article 308 of the Revised Penal Code, and the act of engaging in toll bypass and/or ISR is an act of theft penalized under said article. 

Violators proven to be guilty will likewise be subjected to possible imprisonment and payments of fines.    (FREEMAN NEWS)