DICT, Cisco ink MOU

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with US tech giant Cisco to boost the country’s cybersecurity capabilities.

In a statement, Cisco said that under the MOU, the parties committed to enhance information and intelligence sharing on cybersecurity threats and incidents. The parties agreed to participate in workshops aimed at helping the country deal with threats on critical information infrastructure.

“The DICT will benefit from the in-depth research from Cisco’s wide telemetry of threat intelligence and leverage the information to better protect the government and critical infrastructure in the Philippines against emerging cyber threats,” the statement showed.

The MOU was signed by DICT acting chief Eliseo Rio Jr. and Karrie Ilagan, Cisco Philippines managing director.

“The success of this digital transformation hinges in large part on the Philippines’ ability to tackle the cybersecurity threat,” Ilagan said in a statement.

Under the national cybersecurity road map, the DICT is tasked with ensuring the continuous operation of critical information infrastructure, implementing cyber resiliency measures to enhance the ability to respond to threats, and coordinating with law enforcement agencies.