Cybersecurity awareness a priority

August 10, 2004

 The government home page (www.gov.ph) was hacked last week. Only one article was defaced, not the whole page or website. But Philippine pride was hurting all over. And many of the country’s security concerned ICT professionals where crying out loud: “What is government doing about it?”

Waiting and relying on government to provide security policies, measure and implementation strategies is not the first step that government and private companies should take when it comes to securing information systems in their computers and Information Technology (IT) infrastructure.

According to Jun Malacaman, president of the Information Systems Security Society of the Philippines (ISSSP), every executive, business owner or government official should first get a basic understanding of what risks and threats are involved and the impact of any such threats there is in their respective company or agency. Then he can plan and start executing his plan based on a solid foundation of knowledge.

“If one relies solely on government, it can be a long wait. And by this time, your business or this government would not be just in debt but in its deathbed,” says Malacaman.

The ISSSP is therefore taking a first step to educate and arm the management sector, both government and private by coming up, in cooperation with the National Computer Center (NCC), with a conference on Information Security billed as Manilacon@911:Business at Risk on September 9-11, 2004 at the Hotel Intercontinental in Makati.

 The conference, according to Tim Diaz de Rivera, director general of the NCC will be an eye-opener to some and a reminder to others to prepare for the reality of a cyberattack. "Something nobody wants but must prepare for," de Rivera adds.

Details on ManilaCon 2k5: privacy@risk click here