Filipino medium-sized firms increased investments in third-party cybersecurity providers to 13.3 percent of their revenues as the country still needs to be adaptive to digital threats based on the assessment of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Palo Alto Networks, a global technology firm, on Thursday said these companies allocated the bulk of their cybersecurity funds to security software, with a 47.09 percent share.

Company leaders also funded network security hardware, with a 38.35 percent share and data protection and privacy with 37.86 percent.

Palo Alto said Philippine firms have established cybersecurity policies, leading to 3-score levels under the United State's NIST assessment.

However, Palo Alto said they must still regularly update policies and technological systems to further strengthen cybersecurity, leading to higher 4-level scores.

Based on NIST's assessment, Palo Alto said the local firms scored 3.95 in cybersecurity governance, 3.06 in threat identification, and 4.05 in threat protection.

"With the Philippine digital economy valued at P2.25 trillion in 2024, which accounts for 8.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, cybersecurity is no longer optional," Palo Alto said.

Given the increasing online threats to businesses, the global technology firm said 61 percent of Filipino firms already adopted cybersecurity tools from third-party firms. "This figure is expected to rise to 79 percent in two years," Palo Alto said.