Page 15 - IB February 2024

Technology Technology

because of pictures of themselves or conversations about a misconception. It’s actually those who are aged 25 years and
boyfriends being distributed online. And that’s something that above. They’re the ones that are running into cyberbullying
can be addressed, if policymakers put their mind to it,” she and online fraud, that are enabled through social media,” he
said. added.
Some of the stories highlighted during SPC’s Safe and Equal Watson notes “good use of legislation” against cybercrime
Spaces symposium last year included an unidentified victim of in Melanesian countries. For example in Fiji, a 56-year-old
image-based abuse in Vanuatu where an ex-boyfriend publicly male citizen was charged under its Cybercrime Act for the
shared nude pictures of the victim on social media because first time for allegedly using a fake social media account to
the victim wanted to end the relationship. post defamatory comments.
The victim shared: “I ended up not wanting to attend “Criminals online thrive in a community similar to
school anymore as my school friends would mock me and traditional gangs. If criminals can find pockets of places
so loneliness and depression filled up my thoughts, thinking online, dark web or wherever, they can share notes and say,
suicide would be the solution. ‘Have you looked into this country? Their legislation has got a
“My parents recognised that I was not attending school few gaps and we can do an attack here,’ it is only going to be
anymore and asked if I was all right, so I shared with them my the detriment of places like the Pacific where legislation and
story. I was crying over the comments, which were mostly all police capacity is growing,” he said.
negative and abusive. My mom got angry and started victim “There are ways in which law enforcement agencies can
blaming but my dad played his responsibility by taking me track a certain amount of activity for different crime types,
to the Police Cybercrime unit to report the incident. This is but I don’t think our data is mature enough at the moment to
very harmful because it affects how the society, even my own be able to say, ‘This number of criminals are in this island or
mother, perceives and judges me being a victim instead of this country,’” he added.
supporting me.” He notes that greater investment in police and their
While the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific and the investigative capacities will improve data collection and
revitalised Pacific Leaders’ Gender Equality Declaration results.
recognises Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence Papua New Guinea will soon set up a separate national
(TFGBV), Rakuita says there is not enough analysis, “which is cybercrime task force to ensure that “the law is upheld at
why SPC, through the Pacific Women Lead Programme, held all times,” Steven Lapun, Enforcement Compliance Office for
the first conversation as a region about the issue, what’s the PNG Office of Censorship, revealed at a recent UNODC-
working in-country, what’s not working, what’s available, by facilitated ransomware training in Fiji.
way of policies, by way of law, so that we could learn from “The practicalities of setting up a department require
each other.” administration, they require having the resources to be
SPC’s first TFGBV priorities document notes the need for able to do that, and that’s where UNODC and others are
more research and data into TFGBV, laws and regulations to supporting, and providing the opportunity to train,” said
address the problem, and education and training for frontline Watson.
TFGBV responders. He says digital forensic tools are very expensive and there
“If somebody goes to complain about TFGBV, you need a is a need to invest in them to be able to get the very latest
person on the other side who is receiving the complaint to data.
know what it is, and to be able to recognise it as a form of “Phones and personal computers are getting more and more
violence,” said Rakuita. complex, and you need dedicated tools,” he said.
Cellebrite—one of the tools that Pacific law enforcement
International efforts agencies now use—costs around AU$15,000 for a one-year
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) standard licence.
recently hosted a regional cybercrime roundtable discussion, “To be able to get the premium version which unlocks
hearing from law enforcement and prosecutors in Fiji, phones and does all of the bells and whistles, you’re looking
Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea on the at a lot more, and it’s finding the justification in budgets to
challenges and opportunities when it comes to online crime. be able to sustain that sort of level of investment for digital
Scams, bullying, and the exploitation of children are some forensic tools, which is going to be an issue, and something
forms of cybercrime, which “mainly come from rampant that we’re hoping to sort out,” he said.
social media use,” says Matthew Watson, the Pacific Advisor “Unfortunately, technologies are always going to advance,
for Cybercrime and Digital Forensics at UNODC. and criminals are going to get more and more sophisticated,
“Ten years ago, social media was not quite widespread, and so it’s important that, now that we’re on this journey, we’ve
people in the more remote villages probably would not have just got to see it through, and stay focused on it because
access to the global network. Now that they do, criminals are it’s really important to not increase that gap between what
understandably seeing this opportunity to target people that the criminals can do and not what the law enforcements can
may not have had the awareness that not everybody can be reasonably detect and investigate,” he said.
trusted online,” he said. “If Pacific Island Countries take their foot off the pedal with
“It’s not just young people that are targeted, I think that’s this, it’s going to be really difficult to catch up,” he added.

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