TELECOMMUTERS–the digitally connected employees of this generation–are maybe the most protected from the COVID-19 threat.

Companies globally have started to ask their employees to stay home if they feel like they are susceptible to the virus or have begun showing symptoms of an infection.

Google, for example has instructed employees in its Dublin office to work from home.

Twitter’s US office has recommended that its 5,000 employees all begin telecommuting.

According to a Business Insider report cryptocurrency company Coinbase announced that if its employees “consider themselves susceptible to the flu” they can work from home instead.

The growing global concern of a pandemic has brought unease upon both employers and employees.

In non-manufacturing jobs that do not require manual labor or the actual physical presence of employees such as programming, transcription, sales calling and writing employees have become wary of the spread of the virus and have started to prefer, or in some cases even demand to work out of office.

For work-at-home system to exist, a reliable IT infrastructure that supports remote team collaboration and file syncing capabilities is a must.

Ubiquitous technology like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and the Cloud created enough space to keep the virus away from people. These basic technologies provide the stable performance base for business continuity during these difficult times. However, that is just one part of the story.

Interestingly, more than two-thirds of 70 percent of working people surveyed around the world work away from the office at least once every week.

This research by Zug quoted co-working space provider IWG as saying that even professionals–those with actual offices–benefit from telecommuting as long as the necessary tools are available. The same study revealed that 53 percent of those surveyed work remotely for at least half of the week.

The ability to work from home has changed the working landscape under the COVID-19 threat.

Current LT and 4G connections for example, provide almost seamless face-to-face communications from personal one-on-one to group conference calling that has for some companies cut down on travel expenses. And in these days of the Coronavirus and the 14-day quarantine, traveling for business is not an option anymore.

But there is some work that needs some interaction. For example, to transfer and store files especially large ones like videos and digital films people prefer swapping USBs or portable hard disks.

The Cloud and tools like Apple iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive, DropBox and Sync provide storage that is easy to access. These systems are free up to a certain size, and the subscription grows in proportion to what is stored. But these SaaS models may have operating issues such as recurring subscription fees, data leaks and security and transfer speed issues.

To instill more complexity, the recent waves of ransomware threaten to disrupt IT systems by using victims’ information to block their access data they have stored on the Cloud.

This is why for many enterprises, as it is with small office and home networks, pairing these Cloud storage with a Network Attach Storage (NAS) system is the solution.

Clearly, by not physically, meaning handing over, documents, photos or even USBs and portable hard disks, the risk of transmitting COVID-19 is also reduced. By using a NAS, files are immediately available in a small network cluster that means better transmission of data.

From a business’ perspective, the implementation a NAS into the existing IT infrastructure can ensure effortless remote file sharing and syncing, data ownership and security, higher levels of communication and teamwork, and long term productivity. A proper NAS system is important as it provides dynamic remote team collaboration and file sharing capabilities, which the traditional file servers fail to deliver.

According to Synology, a world leader in NAS, the ideal modern day file server, in addition to having remote access to file services and dynamic team collaboration tools, should also have the capacity for cross office synchronization, self-serve IT, and compatibility with different devices.

“The right solution should allow employees to safely handle many storage issues themselves including changing passwords or restoring lost files from backups, access files that are synced across the offices from all over the world, and give users the ability to access files from anywhere across multiple devices,” Hewitt Lee, Director of Product Management at Synology Inc. said in an interview.

Lee pointed to the fact that many businesses are still hesitant to move on from conventional file server that may pose potential risk to data security and performance issues in the long run. Lee points out that NAS-powered servers are relatively inexpensive and compared to massive server infrastructures for storage.

“That way, employees can easily access or share files from outside the office with the benefit of keeping sensitive data stored on the company’s own equipment without needing to relying on IT personnel heavily.” Lee said.

In the wake of the COVID-19, and many hazards like the recent rash of earthquake and devastating typhoons in the Philippines, implementing a more dynamic modern day file server infrastructure allows businesses to better manage risks, establish more robust file management rules, streamline team collaboration in order to ensure business continuity and productivity.

THE Philippines gained an unwanted recognition climbing to 4th from 11th place in Kaspersky’s worldwide ranking of countries with the highest web threat detections from January to December 2019.

Data from the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) for the past year showed the cybersecurity company’s technologies monitored and prevented nearly 28 million internet-borne attacks against Kaspersky users in the Philippines.

This accounts for 44 percent of Kaspersky users in the country that encountered web threats in 12 months in 2019, where 27 percent were individual users and 7.6 percent were business users. The Philippines trailed behind the top three countries namely, Nepal, Algeria and Albania.

Kaspersky said a browser attack is still the top method for infecting web surfers. Users in the Philippines continue to be attempted to be attacked by cybercriminals through popular attack techniques such as drive-by download and social engineering.

Drive-by download happens when an Internet user visits a website that he/she didn’t know is infected and installs malware directly onto the user’s computer. Vulnerable computers are those with operating systems, applications, or web browsers that are not updated which means these contain security flaws.

Attempts to infect computers of Kaspersky users in the Philippines is done through social engineering where a cybercriminal exploits a user’s lack of knowledge. Disguising as friends, families or even as IT support personnel, cybercriminals convince a clueless user to disclose his/her confidential data. With the information, a cybercrook will gain access to multiple networks, infect the user’s computers with malware or prompt the user to open links to infected websites.

Downloading malicious components or communications with control & command (C&C), a server that helps an online fraudster control a botnet and sends malicious commands that eventually would install malware onto a user’s computer. Botnet, short for robot network, is a collection of compromised (hacked) computers running malicious programs that are remotely controlled by cybercriminals.

“As far as web threats are concerned, among the noticeable changes we’ve seen in the region reflect the same scenario worldwide —strong activity of web-miners in the beginning of the year followed by a dropdown. There was also a growth of online skimmers that we’ve recorded. In the case of local threats, the overall situation in SEA is the same — there’s a drop in the number of cryptocurrency miners and a slight decrease in crypto ransomware,” Yeo Siang Tiong, general manager for Kaspersky Southeast Asia said.

However, local threats are down.

In the same report, Kaspersky products detected and blocked more than 47 million local incidents on computers of its users in the country. This has pushed the Philippines to slide down to 61st place in 2019 from its 65th place in 2018 in Kaspersky’s worldwide ranking among countries with the highest local infections.

Local infections or threats results from malware spread through removable media such as USBs, CDs, DVDs, and other “offline” methods.

Kaspersky said worms and file viruses, which are usually self-replicating, generally account for such incidents. Attempts of attacks were monitored and prevented against 53 percent of individual Internet users and 21 percent of business users in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, there were only 1.5 million malicious hosting incidents monitored and blocked in Philippine-based servers in 2019 compared to two million in 2018 pulling the country’s global ranking from 35th to 37th.

“In the Philippines, we believe the stern warnings against the use of cryptocurrencies and the newly enacted law which imposes harsh penalties against bank account fraudsters and credit card skimmers, are among the possible reasons for the changes in numbers. Despite these though, we can’t drop our guards and be complacent. The overall increase in awareness and level of security among individual Internet users and businesses only mean that typical attacks will be more difficult to carry out. And we see that cybercriminals will intensify their efforts towards social engineering tactics more and will veer away from PCs to focus on attacking mobile devices and other internet-connected hardware,” he adds.

NAGA CITY–Technology has drastically changed how films are made. Impacting on production and execution costs as well as in editing, special effects creation and post production and processing .

Technologies that reshaped the film industry include digital recording, high resolution cameras, automated drones and the Cloud. These technologies are not necessarily cheaper than those used for film but have become more accessible.

At the Cinema Rehiyon 12 held in Naga City, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts called for more regional films to be produced. The push to create films outside the mainstream, and regional in nature, will reflect its unique culture and develop an audience critical of the movies they watch.

“Technology has played a big role in democratizing the making and distribution of films. It has pushed more artistically inclined Filipinos to create films. In 2009, when Cinema Rehiyon started, we only had 9 movies, some of them still shot and processed in film. In the recent past hundreds of movies have been entered and previewed in the various regional film festivals and almost all of them are produced digitally,” Teddy O. Co, Commissioner for the Arts and Head, Sub-commission on the Arts of the NCCA said. Co is also one of the founders of Cinema Rehiyon where he served as curator of Luzon films. This year will be his last with the NCCA.

Technology, however, no matter how advanced, does not make a good film.

“There is an immense amount of technology available for filmmakers that ‘made their jobs easy,’ but these technologies cannot replace truly artistic and creative sensibilities which allow them, because of innate passion or learned experiences, to tell a story well. Movies are stories and telling the story well is the most important thing,” Co said expounding on how using available tech in making a film is not an indication of its success.

“We’ve had films shot using a phone camera or created on paper and assembled on a computer and the results are as good, or even more entertaining and inspiring than big-budget ones,” Co added.

When the National Commission on Culture and Arts’ cinema committee created Cinema Rehiyon, the vision was to further enrich Philippine cinema. Co said the project became a “treasure hunt for cinematic gems in the regions, more than simply independent films, regional cinema portrayed cultures and expressed the uniqueness of each province, each region, each barangay.”

“Regional filmmaking is now its own person. It has established its place in Philippine cinema not after but along with mainstream and independent films,” he reiterated.

When asked about the latest technologies such as autonomous drone cameras, 4K 3D cameras, algorithmic video editing, facial recognition and automated correction running on the Cloud that have creeped into film making and production, Co simply said that “all technologies are welcome and should serve to enhance the cinematic experience.”

“I don’t believe technology can replace human creativity and the human eye, and the passion for storytelling. Technology cannot replace the soul of a movie, ” Co concluded pointing out that ease by which films can be produced because of rapid technological developments also opened the doors for artistically or creatively starved films.

Cinema Rehiyon in Naga is the 12th edition of the project that started in 2009 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Its aim is not only to promote regional films but also to espouse the ideal that Philippine cinema is the sum total of all cinemas in the regions. Its second run was also at the CCP followed by Davao (2011), Bacolod (2012), Los Baños (2013), Cagayan De Oro (2014), Cebu (2015), Dasmarinas, Cavite (2016), Compostela Valley (2017), Las Piñas (2018), Dumaguete City (2019).

STRONGER laws are needed to totally eliminate online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC).

In the launch of the #ShutdownOSEC campaign last week, the Child Rights Network (CRN) called on Congress to strengthen current laws designed to stop OSEC by reviewing and updating these to include appropriate definitions of terms, accountability of the private sector to children, child rescue and rehabilitation, and punishment of perpetrators.

OSEC is a terrible stigma on technology and social media. The Internet has in the recent past become the primary purveyor of child pornography and sexual exploitation.

“With the current trend, it cannot be business as usual. Technology is very dynamic, enabling the issue’s prevalence. Hence, we should also be dynamic and agile in our response; we need to start working on stopping OSEC now,” Romeo Dongeto, CRN Convenor said.

There are two definitions that need to be clarified in the case of the exploitation of children.
On one hand, there is the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) which occurs when people under the age of 18 engage in, or are forced into prostitution and pornography in exchange for money or material payment. The most common way transactions under these CSEC happen are through parents or guardians, especially for younger children, and via personal contact or through a pimp.

OSEC, on the other hand refers to child sexual exploitation which is facilitated or takes place through the Internet and other related media. This includes prostituting children or the simple livestreaming of children doing sexual acts like touching themselves.

During the launch, child rights organizations, legislators, private sector, and youth representatives discussed OSEC cases in the Philippines, laws invoked against it, and how various sectors in the country can contribute to shutting it down.

Online sexual exploitation seriously damages children. It leads to depression, social isolation, and even suicide attempts. In many places in the Philippines it has become a family business for some, diminishing its menace as an actual form of sexual abuse of children because parents are involved.

#ShutdownOSEC is a follow on activity to ChildFund Philippines and CRN’s workshop with the media last December 2019, where they proposed guidelines for reporting OSEC cases in the news.

Laws and allies needed. The campaign website is www.childrightsnetwork.ph/ShutDownOSEC.

CRN noted OSEC cases here are mostly because our systems have less than completely detected and prosecuted them. Despite our laws being designed to be comprehensive to punish all possible cases of child abuse, their “all-encompassing nature” do not capture the commensurate punishment for OSEC.

Currently, the most referenced laws for OSEC are Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, followed by the Cybercrime Prevention Act, Anti-Child Pornography Act, and the Anti-Child Abuse Act.

These laws however, do not clearly define OSEC; punish the livestreaming of child sexual abuse; and impose obligations on private sector to prevent and stop OSEC. Consequently, latest data revealed that in 2018 alone, at least 600,000 naked and sexualized photos and videos of Filipino children were shared and sold online. Out of these thousands of cases, only 27 perpetrators were convicted in 2018.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, and Tingog Sinirangan Partylist Representative and House Committee on the Welfare of Children Chair Yedda Romualdez were among those who participated in the launch. The group wants more allies in the both Houses of Congress to make sure that appropriate actions are taken on both and that legal reforms will be signed into law.

“We call on our leaders in government to help us shut down OSEC. We need to make sure our laws are updated to penalize violators and protect more children from the harms of OSEC. Civil society cannot do it alone. We need a whole of nation approach if we are to stop this terrible crime that robs children of their future,” Dongeto added.