The Philippines may have climbed the ranks in the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI), but ask any Filipino who’s received a shady text or clicked on a suspicious link, and they’ll tell you a different story. From fake delivery messages to crypto scams, digital threats have become a part of everyday life.
So what does our improved global ranking really mean for the average Filipino? And more importantly, are we actually safer?
We spoke with David Ng, Trend Micro’s managing director for Southeast Asia, to expound on why in today’s threat landscape, being proactive isn’t optional—it’s essential.
“If you anticipate, you win. If you react, you lose,” Ng said. “Reacting to threats after they strike is no longer good enough. At Trend Micro, we believe cyber risk exposure management starts with owning your attack surface and knowing exactly what’s at risk before attackers do.
Security Starts with Visibility
The first step? Visibility. According to Trend Micro’s research, 92% of ransomware cases begin with rogue, unknown devices. “You can’t secure what you don’t know exists,” Ng noted.
Trend Micro’s Cyber Risk Exposure Management (CREM) approach focuses on continuous discovery: finding every laptop, server, cloud asset, API, and even OT device within a network. That includes unmanaged devices often missed by traditional security tools.
“Misconfigured systems are one of the most abused entry points,” said Ng. Using risk scoring and GenAI, CREM shows which exposures matter most. Instead of relying on one-time audits, Trend Micro provides real-time dashboards that monitor risk across the whole organization. With Cyber Risk Quantification, potential attacks are tied to business impact, like ransomware costing up to 18% of annual revenue.
“If everything is a priority, nothing is,” Ng said. “We help customers focus on what will actually reduce risk today.”
A Unified Push
In the local market, Trend Micro Philippines country manager Ian Felipe is putting these tools to work — not just in private enterprise, but also through public-sector support, partner training, and customer ecosystem engagement.
The goal? To help more Filipino organizations shift from reactive defense to proactive resilience because in this digital age, waiting to respond is no longer an option.
One of the encouraging developments is Trend Micro’s growing partnership with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
From holding cybersecurity seminars in regional offices to training the country’s 32 Security Operations Centers (SOCs) under the National SOC, Trend Micro is helping build a digitally secure culture in government.
“We regularly share threat intelligence and help conduct training sessions with public sector teams,” Felipe said. “Whether it’s crafting safer policies or rolling out grassroots education, we’re committed to being a strong partner.”
