Business World forum zeroes in on cybersecurity

BUSINESSES today face increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats that can inflict substantial financial and reputational harm.

With this growing concern in mind,

Business World is holding its first Cybersecurity Forum at 1-5 p.m. today at the Glass Pavilion of Dusit Thani Manila in Makati City.

The program consists of discussions by key government and private sector cybersecurity experts that should help forum participants make sense of the

changing nature of cybersecurity risks, as well as safeguards needed for business organizations to operate in this threat environment.

The first part of the forum will revolve around building a cyber-resilient culture. Just yesterday, Kaspersky Lab reported that the Philippines remained among the top 10 targets of online attacks last quarter, with number of reported incidents jumping more than fourfold to 8.1 million from 1.8 million a year ago. A separate study released earlier this year estimated that the country's losses to such attacks could be equivalent to at least one percent of gross domestic product.

Raymund Enriquez Liboro, chairman of the National Privacy Commission, will open the first part of the forum with a presentation on the state of cybersecurity in the Philippines.

He will be followed by Genalyn B. Macalinao, policy lead of the Cybersecurity Bureau of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, who will discuss cybersecurity threats and trends.

Dominic “Doc” Ligot, founder and chief technology officer of CirroLytix Research Services, will then discuss data governance and ethics.

The second part of the forum will focus on cybersecurity best practices at a time of growing Internet penetration in the country.

Raul R. Cortez, legal corporate affairs director of Microsoft Philippines, Inc., will tackle how to secure modern enterprises in an increasingly interconnected digital world.

Angel T. Redoble, ePLDT chief information officer, will discuss re-engineering cybersecurity to keep up with an ever-changing threat landscape.

The program will conclude with a talk on consumer perspectives on privacy and security by Bobby Soriano, a cyber forensic investigator and himself an ethical hacker.

Roby Alampay, editor-in-chief of BusinessWorld, will host the forum and moderate the panel discussions.

For more information about the Business World Cybersecurity Forum and to register, call 5359901 local 707 or visit bworldonline.com/ cybersecurity.