Criminal Statistics

Philippine crime rate up by 46%

Updated August 3, 2015 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines - While the Philippine National Police (PNP) claimed a 60 percent decrease in crimes in Metro Manila, the number of crimes committed nationwide increased by about 46 percent during the first six months of the year as compared to the same period last year.

Records from the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) showed that theft, car theft, physical injuries and rape were among the crimes that had a huge increase.

The PNP said 885,445 crimes were reported from January to June, compared to 603,085 cases during the same period last year.

There were 352,321 index crimes for the first six months of the year, which is 37.3 percent more than the 256,592 cases reported in the same period last year.

Index crimes include murder, homicide, rape, robbery and theft while non-index crimes include estafa, prostitution, kidnapping and car theft.

PNP-DIDM records indicated that from 86,451 thefts recorded in the first six months of 2014, this ballooned to 105,229 cases this year while cases of car theft jumped to 10,039 from 5,599 last year.

Murders increased from 5,004 cases to 7,245 cases this year while homicides were up to 6,607 from 4,091 last year.

Cases of physical injury increased to 182,886 from 122,084 last year while rapes increased to 8,288 this year from 5,069 last year.

The PNP said 172,959 index crimes were “cleared” – settled between the complainant and the respondent – and 100,938 last year.

Index crimes “solved” – meaning charges were filed in court – were reported at 134,074 cases this year compared to 74,172 last year.

The PNP earlier announced that crime rate in Metro Manila was reduced by 60 to 70 percent due to the systematic implementation of Oplan Lambat-Sibat, an anti-crime drive supervised by Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II.
Roxas and the PNP announced a plan to implement Oplan Lambat-Sibat in Central Luzon and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon).

Under Oplan Lambat-Sibat, police officers set up surprise checkpoints, raid or visit the homes of delinquent gun owners, intensify intelligence-gathering and operations against organized crime groups and aggressively pursue fugitives.

The PNP also puts pressure on officials who head city and municipal police forces as well as station and precinct commanders to produce results in the fight against crime.

Cyber Security Tips for National Cyber Security

Protect Your Information

Passwords are an important part of computer security at UCSC and in our personal lives. They often serve as the first line of defense in preventing unauthorized access to computers, accounts, and informati on. Because of this, it is important to choose passwords that are complex enough to prevent others from guessing them or from cracking them with automated "password cracker" programs. In order to protect your information:

  • Make passwords long and strong: Combine capital and lowercase letters with numbers and symbols to create a more secure password.
  • Unique account, unique password: Having separate passwords for every account helps to thwart cybercriminals.
  • Keep it secret: Don't share your passwords or reveal them to others. No legitimate organization should ever ask you for your password.
  • Keep it safe: Anyone can forget a password. Use a password manager to keep track of your passwords. If you have to write a password down, keep it in a safe, secure place away from your computer. Or better yet, write down a hint and store the hint safely.
  • Use two-factor authentication: Look for protection beyond passwords. Many account providers now offer additional ways for you verify who you are before you connect to the site - like Google's 2-step verification and other kinds of two-factor authentication.
  • Password protect all of your devices.


Know how to deal with phishing and other scams

Criminals and hackers are constantly coming up with new schemes designed to steal passwords, compromise computers, trick you into revealing valuable information (personal, financial, etc.), or trick you out of money.

This means we all need to constantly be vigilant so as not to be fooled. Some important reminders are:

  • Beware of unfamiliar or unexpected links and attachments: Links in email, texts, tweets, posts and online advertising are often the way cybercriminals steal your information or compromise your computer. Attachments, too. If it looks suspicious, DELETE IT! Some of the most successful phishing attacks at UCSC have used compromised ucsc.edu accounts, so they appeared to come from somone the recipients knew. If you think the message might be legitimate and you know the sender, confirm with them before clicking on an unfamiliar link or attachment.
  • Be wary of communications that implore you to act immediately or offer something that sounds too good to be true. These are often scams. As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
  • Never reveal your passwords to others. UCSC and ITS and other reputable organizations will NEVER email, call or text you for your password.
  • Don't give sensitive personal, financial, login, business, system or network information to anyone you don't know or who doesn't have a legitimate need for it -- in person, over the phone, via email, IM, text, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
  • The bottom line is, if you can't verify something is legitimate, ignore or delete it.


Connect with Care

Privacy on the Internet continues to be a concern, especially as so many of us use it for professional and personal business, socializing, and entertainment. It is important to be aware of privacy issues online and know how to protect yourself where it matters. Advice from ITS includes:

  • Never assume that email, instant messages (IM), texts, or attachments are private or confidential. These are generally not secure methods of communication.
  • Be savvy about wireless hotspots: Information and passwords sent via standard wireless are especially easy to intercept. Anyone who knows how can snoop what you're doing. Make sure you have a secure (encrypted) connection before doing anything that should be private:
    • Use known, encrypted networks, such as UCSC's EDUROAM SECURE WIRELESS and CAMPUS VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK (VPN), available to UCSC students, researchers, faculty, and staff.
    • Coffee shop/hotel/airport-type wireless is typically not encrypted.
    • UIf you're not sure, assume it's not secure.
    • Set devices to “ask” before joining new networks so you don't unknowingly connect to insecure wireless networks.
    • See “Mobile Device and Wireless” for more information.
  • Connect securely - tip #1: When doing work, banking or shopping online, check to be sure the site is secure before you login. Look for web addresses that start with https (not http). The “s” stands for “secure" and tells you that the information you enter is being encrypted as it is sent.
  • Connect securely - tip #2: Get to websites by typing the web address in directly or use your bookmarks. Don't click or cut and paste links from unsolicited emails or texts. Remember that links and websites that look legitimate can really be bogus sites designed to steal information or infect your computer.
  • Own your online presence: Take control of how and with whom you share information. Set the privacy and security settings on websites and apps so you're in control of what you share. Also keep in mind that once you post something online, it can be very difficult to “take it back.” Even if you delete the information, copies and backups can still exist.


Keep a Clean Machine

  • Password-protect it: Protect your devices with complex passwords that can't be easily guessed.
  • Keep up to date: Keep your computer and applications protected with all necessary security "patches" and updates. Turn on auto-update for everything you can. Attackers often try to exploit old vulnerabilities, so keep your systems up to date both at home and at work to help thwart opportunistic attackers. Some updates require you to restart your computer for them to go into effect, so...
  • Shut down or restart your computer at least once a week -- and whenever your programs tell you to in order to install updates. Whether your computer is being managed for you or you do it yourself, shutting down or restarting your computer regularly helps to make sure software and security updates are properly installed to protect your computer and keep it running smoothly.
  • Use antivirus. Make sure your computer is running up-to-date antivirus software. Set it to auto-update. Antivirus software can only detect what it knows about, so if your antivirus is out of date, it won't protect you from more recent malware.
  • Minimize your storage of sensitive information. Keep it off of your workstation, laptop computer, and other electronic devices if at all possible.
  • Don't download unknown files or programs onto your computer or other devices.

As many as 35% of data breaches come from Higher Ed.

Preventing Data Breaches

High profile data breaches continue to happen. Major breaches from the past year include the Federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Anthem, Sony Pictures, and a cyber attack on UCLA.


Leading causes of these and other major breaches have been:

  • Clicking on a malicious link or attachment
  • Shared passwords or passwords revealed to phishers
    • Most of the breaches the FBI investigates started with a spear phish (a sophisticated, targeted phish)
  • Exploited technical vulnerabilities, such as out of date or unpatched computers and applications


Some lessons from high profile breaches:

  • Attackers are still going after end users as the weakest link in the security chain.
  • PII (personal information) and other private information is everywhere. If it's not in the system the attackers compromised, it's probably somewhere they can get to from there.
  • It's not uncommon for the initial compromise to have happened 6-18 months before the breach was discovered. The attackers have plenty of time to find what they’re looking for.
  • The initial compromise that allows malware to be installed is typically due to common vulnerabilities -- often older vulnerabilities where solutions are known but haven’t been applied yet. Examples of this would be an out of date operating system or an old version of an application.


Big breaches can be opportunities for new scams:

  • Malicious links often appear in web search results about major breaches, especially high profile or scandalous breaches.
  • Phishing scams (email or phone) attempting to get breach victims to sign up for fake credit monitoring or other breach-related support are common. This happened with the Anthem breach.
  • In the aftermath of the Federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) breach, imposters pretended to call from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) offering money to OPM data breach victims. The imposter told the victims that they needed to provide their personal information right then over the phone in order to receive the payment. It was all a scam.


Some lessons from high profile breaches:

  • Attackers are still going after end users as the weakest link in the security chain.
  • PII (personal information) and other private information is everywhere. If it's not in the system the attackers compromised, it's probably somewhere they can get to from there.
  • It's not uncommon for the initial compromise to have happened 6-18 months before the breach was discovered. The attackers have plenty of time to find what they’re looking for.
  • The initial compromise that allows malware to be installed is typically due to common vulnerabilities -- often older vulnerabilities where solutions are known but haven’t been applied yet. Examples of this would be an out of date operating system or an old version of an application.


What you can do:

This all points to the need to constantly be alert to new schemes and scams. It's incredibly common to hear that the original source of a data breach was someone giving up their account information to a phishing attempt. Some important tips to help keep you safe:

  • Beware of unfamiliar links and attachments. Links in email, texts, tweets, posts and online advertising are often the way cybercriminals steal your information or compromise your computer. Attachments, too. If it looks suspicious, DELETE IT!
  • Don't let anyone trick you into revealing your password or other personal or private information.
  • Make your passwords long and difficult to guess. Use a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters.
  • Keep passwords secret. Don’t share your passwords or reveal them to others. No legitimate organization should ever ask for your password.
  • Keep up to date: Make sure your computer's operating system and applications are protected with all necessary security "patches" and updates. Turn on auto-updates for everything you can.
  • Use antivirus. Make sure your computer is running up-to-date antivirus software.
  • Don’t use an administrator-level account for your daily work. Use a regular, non-admin account for day-to-day tasks, both at work and at home. Administrator accounts should only be used when specifically needed. If someone compromises your computer when you’re logged in with an admin account they can do much more damage than if you are using a regular, non-admin account.
  • Delete sensitive information whenever you can. Keep it off of your workstation, laptop computer, and other electronic devices if at all possible..
  • Order a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Make sure it's accurate and includes only those activities you've authorized. You can get one free report from each of these services per year.
  • See Identity Theft Resources if you believe you have been the victim of identity theft.