According to Inflation-hit Philippines joins world’s largest free trade pact RCEP | The Straits Times, In an effort to strengthen its defenses against an increasing number of assaults on state institutions, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is boosting up its cybersecurity initiatives.
According to authorities in a recent interview, this entails the creation of a specialized cybersecurity section in addition to skill enhancements for cybersecurity employees.
SEC Chair Emilio B. Aquino stated that the SEC is a data repository and that they place a high importance on the data that they have.
SEC's information and communications technology division director, Oliver Chato, stated that the agency needed to bolster its cybersecurity skills even further.
Given the current course of events and situations, it is unquestionably necessary to take action, he stated.
Recent data breaches at the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., law enforcement organizations including the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine Statistics Authority, and the House of Representatives demonstrate the surge in attacks against government institutions.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) verified last week that the Medusa ransomware assault had impacted millions of PhilHealth subscribers' accounts.
Since the 2016 Comeleak incident involving the Commission on Elections, this was the greatest compromise of government data.
In addition to providing its employees with the training they need to defend against cyberattacks, Chato stated that the SEC was also trying to address the shortage of cybersecurity expertise in the Philippines.
According to Chato, in addition to their larger digital transformation agenda, there were intentions to boost spending in this field.
According to Chato, they have also established strong cybersecurity policies from the bottom up and are closely working with the DICT's incident response teams. However, they also understand that they must constantly evolve and adapt to new threats.
