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Philippines reels from shortage of ‘cyber warriors’ as hacking attacks soar amid China tensions
- Brain drain has widened digital security skills gap in the Philippines that saw a 325 per cent jump in hacking cases in the first quarter of the year
- Experts say inadequate training opportunities and policies to boost recruitment at a national level have also compounded the problem
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Nurses, engineers, doctors – now cybersecurity experts. As the Philippines counts the cost of brain drain, a surge in malicious cyber activity has highlighted the country’s digital security skills gap.
US cybersecurity firm Resecurity reported a 325 per cent jump in hacking and other digital intrusions targeting the Philippines during the first quarter of 2024 amid rising tensions with China, largely over disputed territory in the South China Sea.
That prompted President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr to launch a cybersecurity strategy to strengthen the nation’s cyber defences to combat attacks and digital crimes. Its military said last year it would create a cyber command.
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But industry analysts say such plans could struggle due to big shortages of skilled “cyber warriors” in the Philippines, which is estimated to need tens of thousands of digital security professionals.
Whether targeting ordinary people, journalists or activists, online threats from doxxing to domain blocking and digital surveillance are rising in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations, highlighting a lack of resources and expertise to fight them, experts say.
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“What the government doesn’t recognise is we’re having a brain drain not only in the healthcare sector but also in cybersecurity,” said JM Cipriano, a cybersecurity professional who has worked for a multinational company in the Philippines.
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