Department Of Information And Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan John Uy on Wednesday urged local hacker groups to be ‘constructive’ with their talents, instead of chasing notoriety.
During the launch of the Cybersecurity Posture Assessment Lab (CPAL) at the Manila Central University (MCU), Uy said that cybercrime “has even outranked drugs in terms of the financial rewards that the criminals are able to gain” and that world governments are working a lot more with the private sector in developing different approaches to deal with this threat.
“Some are designing better anti-malware software to do that, others are complementing it also with enhanced training of professionals, and some are developing ‘cyber defense’ and ‘cyber offense’ capabilities,” he shared.
According to the DICT chief, developing the country’s first CPAL is just one of many approaches to bolster the country’s cyber defense capabilities.
He explained that when companies are looking to test whether their respective systems are secure or vulnerable, they often go directly to security solution vendors for help.
Although effective at times, the challenge lies wherein these vendors’ go-to fix is for the business to buy a product from them, which can stem from a ‘biased assessment’ of the customer’s cybersecurity posture.
“By coming up with this vendor-neutral laboratory, they can validate if what the vendor is saying is true or not, and if there are other solutions providers that can offer alternatives that are more targeted, appropriate, or more cost-effective,” Uy continued.
Endorsed by the DICT and backed by regulatory support from bodies such as Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Insurance Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the National Privacy Commission – CPAL allows businesses to access advanced tools and a comprehensive suite of features designed to validate cybersecurity strength and ensure compliance.
“We have a lot of challenges in the country and I think, being a Filipino, we need to think about our country first and help build up our country and not help destroy it. Why would you use your talent for destructive purposes?” Secretary Uy challenged Filipino hackers.
“You can channel your talents to be constructive to help our fellow citizens, to help our country, in moving forward. You can gain fame by building and helping,” he concluded.
Recently, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) launched an investigation to look into a possible data breach involving internal email communications, and in June, the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) confirmed that four of its web-based systems were attacked.
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