ICT budgets B27m for e-commerce and cyber security upgrade

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry set aside 27 million baht for the Thai Computer Emergency Response Team to set up a national digital forensic laboratory to tackle cyber security and boost local e-transaction service. The move is aimed at increasing the country's e-commerce and e-payment services, worth 629 billion baht and 680 trillion baht last year, respectively. Thailand expects e-transactions to comprise 10% of GDP by 2015. 

  

Surangkana Wayuparb, executive director of Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), the parent of ThaiCert, said ICT allocated it 241 million baht for 2012. The budget will be used for implementing laws and regulations as well as building mechanisms to facilitate e-transactions. 

Of the total, around 27 million will be allocated to ThaiCert to establish a national digital forensic laboratory. The facility will be designed as a source for gathering electronic evidence without contamination, enabling the authority to handle court cases faster instead of only monitoring cybercrime incidents in the past. 

Mrs Surangkana said ThaiCert plans to extend its security-related network alliance by increasing its workforce from 300 to 10,000 next year. Cyber security threats increased significantly from 150 reports in 2001 to 5,526 this year. In the second half of this year, ThaiCert received over 100 cases per month, half of which were incidents of fraud.

The ETDA granted an additional 17 million baht to ThaiCert to set up a national root certification authority, scheduled to start providing service by Sept 2012. The authority will issue digital certificates that act like a digital signature for trusted e-transactions. 

This will help verify the credentials of electronic-related service providers in order to increase consumer confidence in e-transactions. Charamporn Jotikasthira, the ETDA board's chairman, said the Bank of Thailand's report noted the country's e-payment transactions were worth 732 trillion baht last year, with 680 trillion in paper-based payments. 

Internet and mobile payments accounted for 19 billion baht last year. The National Statistical Office reported in 2010, e-transactions rose 19%, up from 629 billion baht in 2009. Private e-commerce tallied 288 million baht. 

.bangkokpost.com