Businesses in the Philippines are quickly adopting artificial intelligence (AI), but many are not doing enough to protect themselves from the security risks that come with it.
More companies are using AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini to help employees work faster and improve productivity. However, experts say many organizations have not yet put the right safeguards in place to prevent sensitive company information from being exposed or misused.
“Everyone’s talking about it, everyone’s curious to know more about AI, so the adoption is really happening as we speak,” Bernadette Nacario, country director for the Philippines, Palo Alto Networks, said in a media briefing. “As to the preparedness and embracing cybersecurity and embedded in their AI life cycle, I don’t think we’re there yet.”
Nacario said companies need to think about cybersecurity from the moment they start using AI instead of treating it as an afterthought.
“I think we are still in the infancy stage, because while they already adopted AI, I don’t think it’s a cybersecurity that is aligned to the adoption we have now in AI. It needs to be embedded in their AI life cycle, and it needs to be embedded in their overall business strategy,” she said.
Most organizations are also struggling with the fact that they don’t have a robust AI governance framework.
Palo Alto Networks said the first step is for companies to find out which AI tools employees are using and set clear rules on what information can and cannot be shared with those services.
“You cannot secure what you don’t know,” said Jobert David, system engineering head of Palo Alto Networks, said. “First, you need to know what AI tools are running in your network. Then you can determine whether those tools are sanctioned and what kind of information employees are allowed to upload.”
David emphasized that businesses should make security part of every AI project from the beginning.
“You cannot do AI without security,” Nacario said. “AI should be secured on day one.”
