The whole world is now gravitating towards the digital route and Philippines as well has taken the plunge. Things like cloud-based solutions, digital banking and payments, online shopping, video consultation with doctors, work from home, etc. have well become a part of the country’s New Normal.

To add to that, Philippines has also been witnessing unprecedented rise in internet and social media consumption. Also, it’s not surprising that the country’s IT industry has become globally renowned, especially in terms of the BPO sector. So much so that it has become one of the leading generators of income and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in Philippines predicts that the BPO sector will drive close to $38.9 billion revenue in the next six years.

Philippines is also known as the fastest growing smartphone market in ASEAN.

Some quick facts:

• Close to 74 million people are active internet users in Philippines.
• In January 2021, there were close to 89 million social media users in Philippines.
• As per Dell EMC’s global survey, Filipino Gen Z-ers are the most confident with their tech savviness.
• There are close to 152.4 million mobile connections in Philippines.

Local as well as foreign investors are transforming their businesses to enable more efficient tech innovations in the country. With the creation of more and more apps, development of information-based products, increasing demand for e-commerce platforms, combined growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and sensory technology, Philippines is undergoing a massive tech evolution.

But this whole gamut of technological development and digitization also has a dark side to it and that is the growing number of cyber-crimes in the country which is undergoing its own constant evolution.

The cyber criminals have tapped numerous sectors. From Food and Beverage (F&B) to Government, from Retail to HealthCare, etc. the attackers have got them all.

At a time like this it only becomes too crucial for the country to upskill its current cybersecurity professionals. As per the Philippine Institute of Cyber Security Professionals (PICSPro), there is a need to upskill the existing cybersecurity experts and also train new cybersecurity practitioners considering the heightened state of threats and inadequate expertise.

Below mentioned points reveal why it is so crucial:

• Ever since, the country went into lockdown in March 2020, the National Bureau of Investigation’s Cybercrime Division recorded a 200 percent increase in the phishing campaigns.

• As per the Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI), it has been taking down close to 10 phishing sites every day after the onset of the pandemic. The attackers mostly comprise of Filipino syndicates that are using Covid-19 themed malicious emails to steal information and regulate fake crowd-funding online portals to trick people into giving donations for PPE.

• A UK-based cybersecurity firm, Sophos, in its 2021 report related to ransomware mentioned that Philippines witnessed a 12 percent increase in ransomware attacks in 2020 and the Philippine enterprises have incurred an average of $820,000 to recover from these attacks.

• As per Kaspersky’s 2020 Security Network (KSN) report, the Philippines ranked sixth globally in terms of the maximum number of web related threats recorded in a country.

• According to the Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Cybercrime Group there have been 869 online scams between March to September 2020 which is 37 percent higher compared to the same period in 2019 that witnessed 633.

• As per a report by Microsoft, Philippines falls at the eighth spot in Asia-Pacific region when it comes to malware encounter.

• During the first three quarters of 2019, a total of 134,556 Android malware attacks were recorded in Philippines that accounted for 12 percent of the total attacks in Southeast Asia.

On the whole, the shortage of cybersecurity personnel in the Philippines has given rise to outsourcing and the involvement of foreign consultants which is only too expensive and not sustainable to say the least. Therefore, considering the present state of events, upskilling current cybersecurity professionals in the country and also training new ones is the only reliable option.