ILOILO City – As cyber attacks continue to be a lingering threat to the Philippine cyberspace, there is a need for the country to strengthen its cyber defense capability, thus the need for more cybersecurity professionals.
Three out of four businesses in the country have experienced a cyber incident and this is exacerbated by the fact that 37 percent of these organizations do not have an incident response plan, said Carlos Ely Tingson, senior vice president of Kroll’s Cyber Risk.
“Part of our recommendations is for companies to focus more on cyber resiliency… more on cybersecurity,” he said.
Tingson, who discussed “PH Business Cyber Health: How it Affects the Economy”, was one of the resource persons during the US Embassy in the Philippines’ 15th Media Seminar entitled “Building Blocks: The US-Philippine Partnership for a Prosperous and a Cyber-secure Digital Economy” held in Cebu from June 6 to 7.
Tingson said a cyber attack can take down core business operations; and prevents goods and services delivery, and mission accomplishment, among others.
Citing the 2021 financial report of the Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE), Tingson said potential economic loss in the Philippines can reach up to P6.5 billion every day if cyber attacks in all major Critical Information Infrastructures (CIIs) in the country succeeded.
PSEI data showed that among the industries that are high risk for cyber attack include banking or financing, transportation, telecommunications, electricity, water and healthcare, government sector, and business process outsourcing (BPO).
Meanwhile, John Avila, senior economic growth specialist of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-Office of Economic Development Governance, emphasized that workforce development is a major goal considering the very low number of cybersecurity experts in the country.
Avila, who discussed on USAID’s Digital Connectivity and Cybersecurity Partnership during the seminar, said there are only around 200 cybersecurity professionals in the country.
Based on 2022 (ISC) Cybersecurity Workforce study, there’s a global shortage of 3.4 million workers in the cybersecurity profession. In the US alone, Cybersecurity Ventures data reflected that more than 700,000 cybersecurity jobs are unfilled.
Meantime, Avila noted that on the part of the USAID, it has been providing technical support and implementing programs as support to build up the capacity of the Philippine government on cybersecurity.
“What the USAID is doing is coming up with training programs to train people – but this is just one aspect. The government actually has to create what we call the plantilla items,” Avila noted.
He added: “Right now, the government does not have in its plantilla a cybersecurity professional nor the job descriptions or the salary that commensurate to that profession.”
Avila believes that in the next few years there will be a growing demand for cybersecurity talents. He also emphasized the need to raise awareness on the significance of the said profession.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson, in recorded remarks during the seminar, underscored, “This vulnerability (on cyberattacks) cannot be our norm. We need to ensure that malicious actors do not threaten our security and economic recovery.”
She noted that strengthening cybersecurity has been one of the Biden-Harris administration’s key priorities. Similarly, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has recognized that strengthening the Philippines’ digital infrastructure is vital to boosting the country’s economy to meet the challenges of the post-pandemic world.
“The threats and challenges that our two countries face make our being partners in prosperity all the more important opportunities through the digital economy have done a great deal to strengthen economic partnerships between the United States and the Philippines,” she added.
The United States is the Philippines largest export market.
Carlson noted American companies are also among the Philippines’ largest investors, private employers, and taxpayers – creating wealth and jobs as well as empowering the workforce and allowing technology transfer.
She cited, for instance, the Concentrix which is an American company that is the Philippines’ largest private employer, with more than 120,000 Filipino employees.
“Like so many companies, the daily work of Concentrix depends upon the strength and stability of our cyber networks. The importance of cybersecurity for firms like Concentrix is just one example of how, to paraphrase President Marcos, national security is economic security and economic security is national security,” she added./PN
