Cybersecurity a growing concern among many Filipinos — report

BUSINESSES in the Philippines should look at investing in talent to improve cybersecurity, as more Filipino consumers are increasingly worried about cyber attacks, a content delivery service provider said.

In its “The State of Cybersecurity 2017 — Southeast Asia” report, Limelight Networks said a survey showed 74% of consumers in the Philippines are “extremely concerned” about cybersecurity. The figure is higher than the 60% average in Southeast Asia (Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore).

Also, the survey found 71% of consumers have had a more negative opinion of a brand after a cyber attack, while almost 40% of consumers said they will no longer make online transactions on a website that has been previously hacked.

Jaheer Abbas, Limelight Networks regional director for Southeast Asia and Australia-New Zealand, said the top concerns of consumers are the loss of financial/ personal information, falling victim to an online scam, and infection of devices by malware.

“Businesses need to know that consumers are most concerned about violations of personal information when it comes to cyber attacks,” Mr. Abbas told

in an e-mail interview. However, he noted said the high cautiousness of Filipinos compared with Singaporeans or Malaysians is a positive sign that can lead to a better handling of cyber security threats.

The survey showed 96.31% of Filipinos check if a website is secure before making an online transaction. This is higher than the regional figure of 91.47%.

“This is thus a positive sign and we expect for demand to lead the push in technological improvements nationally in the Philippines to increase the sophistication of how cyber security threats are tackled and handled,” he said.

Mr. Abbas said companies should start planning and seeking out technologies and solutions that can help bolster cybersecurity, including firewalls for online platforms or security applications.

Businesses should also look at investing in talent to come up with a cybersecurity strategy and provide a “multi-layered” approach, employing various technologies and solutions.

“Additionally, to go a step further, they should look at investing in talent that can strategize for the security of their online platform and technologies that provide a multi-layered security approach, one that layers cloud and on-premise technologies into a ‘cyber security stack’ that can protect consumers from a variety of different vectors,” Mr. Abbas said.

Businesses must also communicate their cyber efforts to consumers. “Following that, they must communicate what they are doing to bolster cyber security to their customers. It’s important to let customers know that these measures are in place and that they are taking continual steps to ensuring optimal security and to safeguard against attacks,” he said.