PH firms taking cyberattacks seriously with bigger budget for defense

Filipino firms have allocated more budget for cybersecurity compared to their counterparts across the Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ), with majority claiming to be on the receiving end of digital attacks in the past year, according to a survey.

Global cybersecurity firm Sophos, in collaboration with Tech Research Asia, produced a report titled “The Future of Cybersecurity in the Asia Pacific and Japan,” which revealed that businesses have given cybersecurity priority in their budgets.

In the Philippines, the respondents said they earmarked up to 13 percent of their technology budget for cybersecurity this year, an increase from 8.6 percent in 2021. This was higher compared to the 11-percent average in the APJ.

“It’s great to see organizations taking cybersecurity more seriously, with budgets and maturity levels on the rise and organizations looking to build threat hunting into their cyber defense strategies,” said Aaron Bugal, global solutions engineer at Sophos.

This comes as cyber criminals are becoming more sophisticated in their attacks. Cyber criminals are seen exploiting the expanding attack surface, or the entry point for digital attacks, given the increasing use of devices and online platforms.

But “even with the additional investment, organizations need to ensure they are not overstating their maturity levels and implementing threat hunting solutions, leading to complacency,” Bugal warned.

According to Sophos’ state of ransomware report, 69 percent of respondents in the Philippines said hackers have launched attacks against their organizations last year. The local firms spent as much as $1.34 million on average to resolve the problem.

Bugal reminded businesses to assess their cybersecurity strategies on a regular basis and act accordingly to ensure robust defense.

“Organizations must constantly be on the front foot to identify and thwart attacks, and regular and consistent threat hunting is key to this; failure to do so means organizations will remain vulnerable,” the Sophos official said.

The survey captured 900 responses from Australia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore.