{"id":46925,"date":"2021-12-20T12:16:37","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T04:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=46925"},"modified":"2021-12-20T12:16:41","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T04:16:41","slug":"secunas-pro-active-testing-strategy-builds-stronger-cybersecurity-for-phl-govt-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2021\/12\/20\/secunas-pro-active-testing-strategy-builds-stronger-cybersecurity-for-phl-govt-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"Secuna\u2019s pro-active testing strategy builds stronger cybersecurity for Phl gov\u2019t, companies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The first and only cybersecurity testing platform in the Philippines, Secuna with its proactive approach protects government and private organizations from potential millions of pesos in losses caused by data leaks and system flaws. Their ability to spot vulnerabilities in an IT structure is a wake-up call to many Filipino executives who, according to results of a survey conducted by global cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks, still regard cybersecurity breaches as \u201clow\u201d to \u201cmoderate\u201d risks.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In dealing with cybersecurity, \u201cwe should be proactive and not reactive,\u201d maintains Secuna Chairman and President Jay Ricky Villarante as he elaborates on the distinction between the two responses. \u201cBeing reactive is responding to malware as it enters your network and corrupts your business databases. However, proactive cybersecurity means you prevent cyber-attacks from happening by locating the system\u2019s potential vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by criminals.\u201d\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Secuna also connects companies, organizations, and businesses with the most advanced and highly vetted cybersecurity professionals in the world who find security flaws before these can be exploited by real-world malicious hackers. The Department of Information Communications Technology (DICT) has recognized Secuna as a CyberSecurity Service Provider for Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Having the company\u2019s IT system tested by third-party cybersecurity experts can point out and plug its holes long before a cyber-attack is launched through it. Secuna\u2019s more-than-1000-strong community of ethical hackers \u201ccan find the flaws before the bad guys do, and then create a system that would be more efficient in protecting the company\u2019s data,\u201d says Villarante.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCompanies need to be prepared but they cannot really tell their vulnerability by themselves,\u201d Villarante continues. \u201cWhen they ask us to check their systems, we find all sorts of problems like database leaks. The problem comes from human error or configuration problems with the systems.\u202f I&#8217;ve seen a lot of startups leak their full source code into the internet. Once we gain access to the client\u2019s database, we assess immediately the level of the vulnerability of the client to an attack of a cybercriminal who is drawn to their system flaws.\u201d\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For each IT system vulnerability or flaw that is discovered, reported, and verified, a company can reward the reporter a bounty as low as P2500 ($50) or as high as P50,000 ($1000) or more depending on the severity of the bug discovered. Villarante regards it as a worthwhile investment in a greater cybersecurity structure. \u201cJust allowing those vulnerabilities to remain in your system is a high risk,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause if the bad guys do find those unpatched holes, their attack can cost the company millions of pesos in damages.\u201d\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Retesting after a flawed IT system has been remediated is another of Secuna\u2019s strengths. \u201cIn our VAPT service, we offer unlimited retesting for all the bugs that we\u2019ve reported after the client fixes them. This means that we have this feedback loop with our clients that keeps on going until we are sure that each bug we\u2019ve discovered is completely fixed,\u201d says Villarante. \u201cThis lessens the attack surface or points of weaknesses in our client\u2019s IT system. So, when cyber criminals do attack, they will have a very hard time looking for any point of entry.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cybercriminals are known to be persistent: they will keep attacking your systems until they find a vulnerability that they can exploit. As such, companies need to treat cybersecurity not as an add-on, but as a critical part of the foundation of their online business to be secure. For example, if they are investing in social media for their marketing, they should also invest in cybersecurity even more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recent developments have made the strengthening of the country\u2019s cybersecurity more urgent. According to Kaspersky&#8217;s 2020 Security Network report, the Philippines has been one of the most vulnerable countries exposed to cyberthreats for two years in a row. The 2016 leakage of private information of 55 million voters from the Commission on Election database by a cyber terrorist group is one of the more notorious examples. In the private sector, Philippine remittance center Cebuana Lhullier experienced a data breach in 2019 that exposed the personal data of 900,000 clients.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Villarante points out, \u201cCybersecurity is very much like life insurance; you don\u2019t feel right away that the attack is coming. But when the attack does come, it\u2019s going to cost the company not just in terms of money, but also damage to their reputation.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secuna with its proactive approach protects government and private organizations from potential millions of pesos in losses caused by data leaks and system flaws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":46926,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[7356,96,2727,1656],"class_list":["post-46925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-secuna","tag-technology","tag-technology-adaption","tag-technology-investment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}