The government can build a "credible and secure firewall against cyberattacks" without having to use confidential funds for the purpose, Sen. Chiz Escudero said on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
The five-year NICTDA is anchored on six development components, namely: digital connectivity, digital transformation, digital inclusivity, ICT resiliency and sustainability, strategic partnership, and digital ecosystems development.
This comes in the face of the Philippines being second in the world when it comes to the number of recorded cyberattacks, losing up to P100 million in each instance, according to data provided by the Philippine National Police.
The National Association of Data Protection Officers of the Philippines (NADPOP) and the Philippine Computer Emergency Response Team (PH-CERT) said regulators should already anticipate the worst-case scenario as it is better to warn Filipino consumers as soon as possible as the threat actors can already exploit the illegally accessed personal information.
The DICT said it will lead the development of the North Luzon Data Center, which will be an integral part of the agency’s National Government Data Center Project.
The DICT said the Philippines in recent years has been grappling with a notable increase in cybersecurity threats, driven by the ever-evolving digital landscape.
Called the Consumer Application Monitoring Systems (CAMS), it is an initiative of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), an attached agency of the DICT.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said it has signed a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreement worth $150 million (or approximately P8.5 billion) with Japanese telecommunications firm IPS and its local affiliate InfiniVAN to expand the country’s fiber cable infrastructure.
