Cyberattacks expected to increase this year —DICT

CYBERATTACKS in the Philippines are expected to further increase as attackers will take advantage of the expanding digital economy, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said on Tuesday.

“We expect more of that [cyberattacks] to happen. The cyber landscape is growing and as it grows, then the economic potential of that sector is also increasing. If there is more economic activity there, there is more that cybercriminals can [take advantage of],” DICT Secretary Ivan John E. Uy told reporters on the sidelines of a cybersecurity forum on Tuesday.

The Philippines’ digital economy has been on the rise, with its value expected to reach as high as $150 billion by 2030, mainly driven by e-commerce, according to the e-Conomy report issued by Google, Temasek Holdings and Bain & Company last year.

“The incidence of cyberattacks will continue to increase due to continuing digitization and digital transformation of businesses. These organizations, mostly MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), are most vulnerable due to lack of resources,” Sam Jacoba, founding president of the National Association of Data Protection Officers, said in a Viber message to BusinessWorld.

Mr. Jacoba said the overall weakness of the country’s information infrastructure makes it easy for attackers to infiltrate.

“Due to this, threat actors have a bigger playing field to operate and exploit individual and collective vulnerabilities, and to advance their interests,” he said.

Philippines-based organizations have suffered an estimated $1 million in losses in the past 12 months due to cybersecurity incidents, according to connectivity cloud company Cloudflare, Inc.

Mr. Uy said the DICT is currently studying the country’s economic losses due to cybercrimes, adding that the agency is hoping to release the report soon.

“Criminals operate in a city where there are more e-commerce, digital payments, e-wallets and online accounts because there will be more potential victims for them. They will now be looking at this hoard and see how much they can extract,” Mr. Uy said.

Citing a report of consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, the Asia Foundation said the Philippines could incur up to P200 billion in economic losses per year due to cybercrime.

“It is continually changing, for instance in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region last year, based on our reports cybercrime hit almost $1-trillion losses,” Mr. Uy said.

“Since we are expecting more online transactions that are going to happen, there will be more criminal organizations that will be expected to exploit the cyber landscape.”

The Philippines is also working with the government of Canada on efforts to combat cyberattacks.

“There are many areas of collaboration between Philippines and Canada, the [two countries] can work together in building up better coordination, information sharing and better ways of addressing the growing threat in the cyber sphere,” Mr. Uy said.

Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. said the Philippines and Canada are set to sign a memorandum of understanding

(MoU) within the first quarter. This MoU will cover defense cooperation and strengthening cybersecurity.