2005 Computer Crime Report

2005 Computer Crime Report
For the 26th ASEANPOL Conference


Current Situation

Computer crime situation in Thailand compared with the past year has shown an increase in terms of number of cases. New methods of offense which did not happen in the previous years were found. Some of these examples are
­ SIM card fraud – hacking into the cellphone operator’s computer and modifying top-up credits.
­ Cyber-extortion – hacking into and erasing the web hosting provider’s data then extorting money for returning of copy of original data.
­ Making Fraud to online web service through vulnerabilities
­ Credit card identity theft

Also there has been a steady rise in computer-related crime such as online sale of pornography, online fraud, illegal gambling, defamation and harassment.

There is a growing tendency for both computer and computer-related crime to be more serious and widespread. Still the computer crime law is being in the process of getting approval for enactment and seemingly perhaps delayed by political conflict crisis. This makes prosecution of many computer crime cases more complicated. Particularly, those cases that the Royal Thai Police was requested by international cooperation. Because certain offenses in other countries are not crime in Thailand.

It is found that more intrusions originated from foreign countries into Thailand-based computers. Besides, many cheating websites in foreign countries which lure tourists to make online fake reservations for hotels in Thailand. This hotel reservation fraud has damaged to our country’s tourism business and reputation. Both the perpetrators and victims of these offenses live abroad thereby causing troublesome international cooperation.


Our Measures against those problems

Domestic Approach
­ To encourage the public to report illegal websites
­ To cooperate among law enforcement units
­ To promote public awareness and distributing of filter software to control children access to the internet by the Ministry of Culture
­ Blocking of illegal website by the Ministry of ICT
­ To prosecute illegal websites by the Royal Thai Police
­ To train the police on electronic evidence collection and investigation techniques

International Approach
­ To cooperate with G8 , Interpol, CTINS and establish 24/7 point of contact
­ To participate in Aseanapol activities, meeting, training, etc.
­ To assist in solving computer crime cases upon the foreign law enforcement request (both official and nonofficial) as possible
­ Sharing of knowledge and experience with other countries

Statistics of Computer Crime and International Request

At present the Royal Thai Police has no official computer crime information. Information gathering system and criminal data classification are now under planning.

There has been many international cooperation requests mostly from U.S. and E.U. countries where web hosting service are available. Regarding Asean countries cooperation, the Royal Thai Police has assisted a computer crime case from Singapore. In this case, High-Tech Crime Center (HTCC) - the Royal Thai Police helped investigate the email threatening the political leader. Working together with Singapore officials, HTCC team could locate the email origin and thereafter the electronic evidence was collected at an internet café in Bangkok. Finally the criminal was arrested on the next day.

Our vision to cope with those problems

Domestic Approach
­ Regulating all electronic transactions to be traceable or identifiable its source and destination e.g. SIM card registration, topping-up credits by phone, parcel post sender ID plus CCTV recording , CDROM identity data collecting from duplicator?, etc.
­ Making laws to assist law enforcement in fighting against electronic crime
­ Training of police to achieve world class capability in electronic crime investigation techniques
­ Developing a knowledge-base case management

International Approach
­ Making an issue to be solved together among various countries
­ Research of difference in computer crime law of each country
­ Developing cooperation framework to be more efficient
­ Requesting technical training from technologically advanced countries

24/7 point of contact

5.1 Pol.Col. Suchart KANGWARNJIT
Deputy Commander, High-Tech Crime Center
Telephone: (662)205-2688 Facsimile: (662) 205-1285
Email: suchart_k@police.go.th
5.2 Pol.Lt.Col. Niwate ARPAWASIN
Deputy Superintendent, High-Tech Crime Center
Telephone: (662)205-1981-2 Facsimile: (662) 251-5417
Email: niwate@police.go.th

Conclusion

To cope with computer crime, international cooperation is highly essential. The framework and guidelines of cooperation shall be developed in order to make quick and efficient procedure.

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