ePLDT, the ICT arm of local telco PLDT, recently reaffirmed its partnership with cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks and held a virtual press briefing to highlight the importance of companies securing their networks and infrastructure to ensure a low-risk digital transformation and cloud migration.
The partnership aims to support Philippine organizations in achieving both digital transformation and end-to-end cloud security coverage.
“The key to our success lies in our ability to innovate and assist our customers in their digital transformation — without leaving security behind,” emphasized Victor S. Genuino, ePLDT president and CEO, during the briefing.
“With Palo Alto Networks as our forward-looking cybersecurity partner, we’re able to provide solutions that keep cybersecurity at the forefront while our customers embark on their cloud migration journey,” Genuino asserted.
To secure their networks, ePLDT and Palo Alto specifically urged companies to prioritize adopting a Zero Trust strategy.
Zero Trust refers to a security framework requiring all users, whether within or outside the organization’s network, to be constantly authenticated and validated before being allowed or maintaining access to applications and data.
Compared to traditional network security methods that require only one-time validation, Zero Trust frameworks enable companies to have more visibility or a better understanding of what’s happening in their networks in real time.
This increased visibility further empowers businesses to prevent breaches or misconfigurations as well as protect cloud workloads as they shift to hybrid or multi-cloud environments during the digital transformation process.
Alexis Bernardino, ePLDT Customer Field and chief cybersecurity evangelist, spoke during the briefing to address the threat posed by today’s rapidly developing cybercrime landscape.
“In the cyber landscape, it’s only a matter of when. When will my organization be attacked? When that inevitable time comes, is my organization ready to respond and recover?” he said.
“In ePLDT, we are advocating and recommending to our customers to veer away already from the usual reactive cybersecurity approach, which is more on detecting attacks. We want to move the needle now to what we call proactive security, which is focuses on fortifying predictive and responsive capability,” Bernardino shared.
Steven Scheurmann, regional VP of Palo Alto Networks for Asean, explained that technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning are already being exploited by threat actors to attack organizations.
“The analogy I could use is, attackers are turning up to a gun fight with a gun and organizations are turning up to the gun fight with a knife,” Scheurmann said.
“So to level the playing field, Palo Alto has embedded AI and machine learning in all of our products and solutions to ensure from the starting point, we at least both have guns. But on top of that, Palo Alto possesses the skillsets, the expertise that we bring together with ePLDT,” he added
“That’s the beautiful thing about this relationship. Us combined can ensure that the customers can see the threat landscape more clearly and they can be proactive preventing it,” Scheurmann stated.
“Partnering with a strong cybersecurity company is an invaluable asset. This collaboration between ePLDT and Palo Alto Networks is a partnership born in the cloud and forged in cybersecurity,” underscored Bernardino.
