A cybersecurity company leader in the Phiippines recommended the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool to detect malware attacks in the Philippines, saying that it is a “good defense mechanism” against cybercrimes.
“I have to disrupt the mindset that what has been done in the past still works because it doesn’t,” Palo Alto Networks country manager Oscar Visaya said in a media briefing during the VST ECS CXO Tech Summit 2023.
“I think the Philippines can really leverage AI. I think from the cybersecurity perspective it will solve a lot of problems where we lack cybersecurity to man security operations of companies. So, if we can simplify just 50% of the manual tasks of organizations—that is a lot,” Visaya added.
AI-powered solutions were seen to help maximize time by speeding up threat detection and execute security responses. It can alert cybersecurity professionals when there is potential threats from someone trying to get access sensitive data.
Furthermore, Visaya said that there is difficulty in trying to “automate and consolidate” using fragmented security solutions.
“We have to have this mindset that there has to be a change in the way we think about securing our organizations—not just from the perspective of risk but also how we can build security architecture and security operations behind it.”
The country manager also said that decision-makers should consider leaving what has been “tried and tested.”
“But people up there should realize there has to be some sort of transformation and evolution from a legacy software to a modern soft, from a fragmented software to a simpler one.”
Visaya also said that Palo Alto has been using AI in its products for almost 10 years and has recently presented a new technology where humans and AI become “co-pilots.”
He explained that humans can ask the AI their organization’s current security posture, then the generative AI will answer.
“In that case, the human can detect threats and the security risks of an organization much faster. And of course, behind that, there’s a lot of data right? That’s where generative AI and precision AI will actually work together to give you the right answers,” Visaya said.
Last year, the California-based company partnered with United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, to help boost Philippines’ cybersecurity capabilities.
According to Palo Alto Network’s 2023 ASEAN cybersecurity report, the Philippines, alongside Malaysia, is one of the most vulnerable countries to cybercrime attacks.