DICT bares 5-year plan to guard nation against cyberthreats

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved a comprehensive five-year National Cybersecurity Plan designed to safeguard the nation against the ever-evolving threats of the digital age, the Department of Information and Communications Technology said.

In a Palace Briefing on Thursday, DICT Secretary Ivan Uy said the President accepted the country's plan to strengthen its cybersecurity systems by creating policy direction and operational guidelines.

"We presented the national cybersecurity plan to the President. This was, you know, more than a year in the making and it’s actually a very comprehensive plan covering the year 2024-2028,” Uy said.

“So the national cybersecurity plan is, well, it’s a document that provides direction, policy direction, as well as operational guidelines on how to build up our cybersecurity posture vis-à-vis the rest of the world,” Uy added.

Along with an "advance threat assessment," Uy said the plan would also get information from other countries to help the country be better ready for future attacks.

Uy added this would be helpful if there was a cyberattack on a bank in a different country because the computer emergency reaction teams could find out how the attack happened.

“So, our banks would be advised ahead of time and prepare for it. Because whatever vulnerability has been exploited in that attack would most likely be the same vulnerability that cybercriminals will use in order to penetrate the other banks or other financial institutions,” Uy explained.

Uy added that improving the skills and abilities of people who work in hacking is another important part of the plan.

“So, we are intensifying on a massive scale our training and our capacity building for cybersecurity, for AI (artificial intelligence), and for many of the emerging technologies among our digital workforce,” Uy said.

''We’re also doing more information campaigns to make the public aware of the risks involved and the different schemes and scams that are out there.'