Security breaches in the Philippines cost over P50 million in the last 12 months, according to data from a recent report.
Fortinet, a cybersecurity firm, released a report that showed the state of cybersecurity in the country during the media briefing of its event called “Fortinet Accelerate 2023: Philippine Edition” on May 23.
According to its data, in the first quarter of 2023, it detected 23 million viruses, botnets and exploits detected on average per day.
The top three target sectors of viruses are:
- Government
- Manufacturing
- Retail and hospitality
Botnets, a network of computers or devices that run bots, affected the following sectors:
- Finance services industry (FSI)
- Technology
- Retail and hospitality
Intrusion prevention systems (IPS) detected exploits in these sectors the most:
- Retail and hospitality
- Technology
- Government
Moreover, for the last 12 months, 45% of respondents in Fortinet’s survey said that their security breaches approximately cost a staggering P55 million in total.
In line with this, 94% of local organizations surveyed said that their security breaches doubled during the first quarter of this year.
Top security incidents are:
- Phishing
- Denial of services
- Data and identity theft
- Ransomware
- Network performance challenges
- Data loss
Fortinet noted that the rise of hybrid and remote Filipino work following the COVID-19 lockdowns led to the increase of more sophisticated cybersecurity threats.
The company called the hybrid set up the “branch-office-of-one” in its study.
More than half or 88% of respondents surveyed have this working model—either as hybrid or fully remote.
Other challenges that Fortinet found are:
- Applications are distributed across different devices.
- More devices, data and people are outside the enterprise “wall.”
- Too many IT and security stacks.
- Too many vendors offering cybersecurity products in the market.
A single-vendor solution
Fortinet promoted the single-vendor SASE as the solution for hybrid or remote organizations and businesses to better protect their data infrastructures and their employees.
It listed the following benefits of a single-vendor security service:
- Increased visibility into edge security
- Reduction in security alerts associated with the hybrid work
- Improved network performance
- Increased efficiency and enhanced security posture
Daniel Kwong, Field CISO for Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, described the single-vendor SASE as a “game changer” for organizations should they adopt it in their networks.
“Single-Vendor SASE, with its converged networking and security capabilities, is proving to be a game-changer for many organizations seeking a simplified and consistent security posture for users both on and off the network,” Kwong said in a statement.
Alan Reyes, country manager of Fortinet Philippines, meanwhile, stated that it is about time for the Philippines to recognize the gravity of cyber-attacks in a growing digital economy.
“As the Philippines continues to embrace the digital future and become a leader in the digital economy, it is essential that we acknowledge the increasing frequency and sophistication of cyber-attacks and data breaches,” Reyes said.
“The shortage of skilled talent in the cybersecurity industry only makes this issue more challenging,” he added.
The survey was conducted among 450 cybersecurity leaders from Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
