The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the administrative entity responsible for planning, developing, and promoting the national ICT development agenda of the Philippines, and Cisco, a global technology company, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate and strengthen the cybersecurity in the Philippines.

Under the MoU, both parties committed to enhancing information and intelligence sharing on cybersecurity threats and incidents. The two also agreed to conduct workshops and facilitate the exchange of ideas to enhance the cybersecurity of Critical Information Infrastructure. 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.

“As the Philippines continues to push toward digital transformation, we are committed to ensuring that we build our cybersecurity capabilities accordingly,” said Eliseo Rio Jr. acting secretary, DICT. “This not only includes adopting the right technologies but also building the local talent pool in the sector. For this, all stakeholders from government, to industry and educational institutions need to work together. Our partnership with Cisco will play a key role in making our cyberspace safe and resilient.”

Enhancing cybersecurity capabilities across the Philippines has been a top priority for the DICT. This has been exemplified when the DICT launched the National Cybersecurity Plan 2022 in May 2017. The Plan aims to assure the continuous operation of country’s critical information infrastructure, implement cyber resiliency measures to enhance the ability to respond to threats before, during and after attacks, effectively coordinate with law enforcement agencies, and boost cybersecurity awareness among citizens.

“Digital adoption and innovation are playing an important role in boosting the growth of the Philippines economy,” said Karrie Ilagan,
Karrie Ilagan, managing director in the Philippines at Cisco. “As technology becomes an integral part of businesses and consumers, and we embark on digitizing the entire country through projects like smart city initiatives, the reliance on data and connectivity will continue to rise. The success of this digital transformation hinges in large part on the Philippines’ ability to tackle the cybersecurity threat.”

DICT and Cisco will collaborate on specific programs to build up cybersecurity skills and capabilities in the Philippines, with the aim of enhancing the capacity and sophistication of cyber threat defenders in the country.

The Cisco Networking Academy Cybersecurity courses upskill individuals to build the workforce of tomorrow. Over 5,800 students in the Philippines have undertaken Cybersecurity courses under the academy to date, with almost 400,000 students trained since inception under the broader ICT curriculum offered through the Networking Academy.