Philippines faces lower risks to cyberattacks

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has a lower risk to cyberattacks compared to its peers in the region, but appears to be less prepared for cyberthreats, a report commissioned by software firm VMware showed.

Based on Deloitte Cyber Smart:Enabling APAC businesses report, the Philippines ranked 9th on preparedness and 8th on exposure among 12 Asia-Pacific economies in the VMware-Deloitte Cyber Smart Index 2020, which examined the level of cyberrisk exposure faced by countries in the region and the degree of cyber preparedness.

Focusing on the inherent exposure to cyberattacks, the index looked at the size of attack surface, the frequency of attack, and value that is at risk.

The report said the Philippines ranked lower than its ASEAN counterparts in terms of exposure due to its relatively small health and financial sectors, and low household internet usage.

Singapore has the highest exposure to cyberrisk among the 12 Asia Pacific countries part of the report, followed by South Korea and Japan.

Meanwhile, within the preparedness measure, the index looked beyond legal and policy environment to examine what businesses can do to be better prepared for the growing cyberrisks.

The report said the Philippines has the median score for the cyberpolicy and strategy indicator.

If the Philippines were to have the highest score for this indicator, it said that the country’s preparedness index would have increased.

Singapore again topped the ranking as the most prepared country, scoring consistently high across all measures of preparedness despite being the most exposed country.

Indonesia (12th), Vietnam (11th) and Sri Lanka (10th) were the three countries ranked lower than the Philippines in cyber preparedness.

The report said a secure digital economy is a joint responsibility between private and public sectors.