Philippines faces most cyber threats in Southeast Asia – PANW
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Philippines is experiencing the highest number of cyberattacks in Southeast Asia this year, according to Palo Alto Networks (PANW).
The report, titled PANW 2023 State of Cybersecurity Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), revealed that 29% of Filipino companies reported a spike in cyber incidents this year, with 51% feeling vulnerable.
Malware led the attacks at 66%, followed by phishing (63%) and password attacks (56%).
“We have to be in a position to prevent a cyber incident,” said Steven Scheurmann, ASEAN vice-president at PANW. “Automation allows us to deal with all of the data being collected and all the potential risks out there.”
The report links the attacks to digitalization making businesses more exposed. While 90% express confidence in current measures, small and medium enterprises lack resources to boost defenses. Many now turn to cloud security (44%), identity access management (44%), and automation (41%).
Artificial intelligence (AI) integration is seen as the leading cybersecurity that businesses consider, with 54% exploring machine learning and analytics in 1-2 years.
“AI is important for us to secure the Philippines and have a better security posture,” said Oscar Visaya, Philippine country manager at PANW.
“Companies, specifically those aggressively digitalizing, have to sit down all their teams and talk about how they can go about cloud security in a more automated and orchestrated way,” Mr. Visaya added.
Experts have previously warned about the increasing cyberattacks in the Philippines and how it would negatively affect its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry.
As cyber threats intensify, there’s also an urgent need for 180,000 cybersecurity experts in the Philippines.
