The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on Thursday presented its national cybersecurity plan to President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. amid reports of hacking attempts targeting government digital assets recently.
“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,” DICT chief Ivan Uy said during a palace briefing.
In crafting the Philippine national cybersecurity plan, DICT studied the plans of other countries to identify the right terms in addressing cyber threats.
The presentation of the national cybersecurity plan came following President Marcos’ order for the Philippine National Police (PNP) to strengthen the country’s defense against cyber threats.
According to Uy, the plan would address the development of tight policies to secure a safe cyber landscape for the country, including identifying cyber assets and infrastructure to protect.
Previously, DICT reported hacking attempts from China-based cybercriminals against numerous government websites.
DICT also incorporated advance threat assessment to prevent any incidents from happening by obtaining information ahead from other international parties, said Uy.
Uy listed capacity-building and upskilling of cybersecurity personnel as another important initiative included in the presented plan, eyeing growth in the country’s digital workforce
“We are intensifying on a massive scale our training and our capacity building for cybersecurity, for AI, for many of the emerging technologies among our digital workforce,” said Uy.
DICT would also do various information campaigns to increase the public’s awareness of cyber threats.
“We’re also doing more information campaigns to make the public aware of what are the risks involved; what are the different schemes and scams that are out there,” Uy said.