Daily Tribune
Despite the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool to combat cyber threats, most organizations in the Philippines remain behind in harnessing its potential.
According to Cisco’s 2025 Cybersecurity Readiness Index, only 6 percent of organizations in the country are classified as “mature” in their cybersecurity readiness–an improvement from just 1 percent last year, but still alarmingly low.
“This year’s report reveals alarming gaps in security readiness and a lack of urgency to address them. Organizations must rethink their strategies now or risk becoming irrelevant in the AI era,” Cisco chief product officer Jeetu Patel said over the weekend.
“As AI transforms the enterprise, we are dealing with an entirely new class of risks at unprecedented scale — putting even more pressure on our infrastructure and those who defend it,” he added.
Cisco’s index evaluated organizations across five key pillars — Identity Intelligence, Network Resilience, Machine Trustworthiness, Cloud Reinforcement and AI Fortification — using 31 specific cybersecurity solutions. These criteria categorized companies into four readiness levels: Beginner, Formative, Progressive and Mature.
The findings, derived from a double-blind survey of 8,000 security and business leaders across 30 global markets, highlight Philippine organizations’ cybersecurity challenges.
The report showed that 75 percent of local firms expect business disruptions from cyber incidents in the next 12 to 24 months. Additionally, 54 percent experienced cyberattacks over the past year, often struggling with fragmented and disjointed security systems.
While AI is increasingly used in cybersecurity — 93 percent of organizations deploy it to better understand threats, and 84 percent use it for both detection and response — awareness gaps remain.
Only 71 percent of respondents said their employees fully understand AI-related threats, and 59 percent believe their teams grasp how malicious actors exploit AI to launch more sophisticated attacks.
Cisco warned that this knowledge gap leaves organizations “critically exposed.”
Its report also found that external threats, such as state-affiliated groups and malicious actors, are now considered more serious (54 percent) than internal risks (46 percent), emphasizing the urgent need for integrated and proactive cybersecurity strategies.
Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), which, through its UnionDigital unit, is among the biggest players in the virtual banking sector, is leveraging investments in line with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ open finance strategy.
In June 2023, the BSP, in partnership with the International Finance Corp. (IFC), launched the Open Finance PH Pilot, a live initiative to test Application Programming Interface (API)-driven financial solutions.
This pilot targets micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and underserved communities, aiming to bridge gaps in digital connectivity and financial access.
Open finance was meant to be a step toward unlocking “equal access to financial services for all Filipinos” while maintaining cybersecurity and data privacy standards.
UnionBank is working closely with the BSP to advance the open finance system.
Open finance allows banks, other financial institutions, and third-party providers to share customer-permissioned data to develop innovative financial solutions—such as those that provide real-time payments, promote greater transparency to account holders, and offer marketing and cross-selling opportunities to banks and other financial institutions.
UnionBank said it has developed an architecture to take advantage of open finance.
