The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on Tuesday reaffirmed its commitment to help the Philippines safeguard its critical infrastructure against cyberattacks.
“JICA recognizes the pressing need to strengthen the country’s cybersecurity posture. In order to attain cyber resiliency of the government’s critical information infrastructure (CII), we shall continue our support to the Philippine government to enhance its capacity particularly on sectoral coordination, and enhance the country’s awareness on cybersecurity,” Sakamoto Takema, JICA chief representative, said.
“With a vast number of potential cyber-attacks happening daily, data breach is a serious concern that we need to address immediately. Cybersecurity is a rapidly growing concern for the Philippines and the entire world in line with the promotion of digital transformation,” he added.
The Philippines ranked 61st of 194 countries worldwide in the 2020 global cybersecurity index (GCI), placing below most ASEAN states.
According to the National Cybersecurity Talent Workforce Assessment Report of the Philippines published by IBM in 2022, the country had the highest number of users attacked by banking trojans in the Asia-Pacific and the 4th most targeted country by cybercriminals in 2021.
JICA recently kicked off a three-day training program on cybersecurity risk management for the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
The training is part of the two-year work plan of an ongoing project for the DICT on cybersecurity capacity development supported by JICA under a dedicated technical cooperation program for the dispatch of experts to bolster the capabilities of the Philippine government.
In ceremonies, JICA stressed Japan’s unwavering commitment to cooperate in the area of cybersecurity, which was also underscored during the Japan-Philippines-US trilateral summit meeting held in Washington, D.C. in April 2024.
The training is the first undertaking after the trilateral summit and implemented as a joint initiative with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Better Access and Connectivity (BEACON) Project.
JICA invited USAID’s lecturer who imparted basic knowledge on cybersecurity risk management, emerging threats, and latest measures. The DICT was pleased with the effective support provided under the JICA-USAID collaborative action.
About eighty participants from DICT and related government agencies such as the Supreme Court, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Energy (DOE), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), and the National Telecommunication Commission, among others, attended the first day of training.
