Half of cyberattacks in Philippines used AI – study

MANILA, Philippines — Almost half of digital attacks in the Philippines have depended on artificial intelligence (AI), causing headaches to businesses struggling to keep up with new automation tools.

In a study, tech giant Cisco Systems Inc. said 59 percent of companies in the Philippines have the confidence to say they can detect and respond to a compromised AI agent.

This is why of the 93 percent who reported dealing with a digital attack over the past 12 months, nearly half of them were involved in an AI-enhanced incident.

Fundamentally, Cisco flagged the lack of coordination among security teams in the Philippines. The study showed that only 43 percent operate their cybersecurity and networking teams as one, leading to distorted response to digital attacks.

At least 53 percent of respondents also said what they do is too technical to be able to convince their management to invest more. On top of this, there is a dilemma on how to translate security investments into business metrics.

Almost one in three businesses were also found spending a significant amount of time collecting and assessing data than addressing the actual threats.

On the contrary, companies that have invested more on AI tools said their detection and response times improved by at least 25 percent.

They said if AI is going to be used to launch digital attacks, companies may also deploy AI to set up tighter defenses.

Cisco Philippines managing director Zaza Soriano-Nicart said it is becoming imperative to spend on AI solutions not just to raise efficiency, but also strengthen security. She noted that proactive firms gain the most when threats evolve quickly.

Given this, Soriano-Nicart said businesses have to emulate what the most secured companies do, such as running cybersecurity and network teams as one with shared tools and visibility. It is also necessary to put up controls on AI tools.

“The organizations that stay ahead will be those that embed security into how they operate, treat it as more than a compliance exercise and break down operational silos, so the right people can make the right decisions at the right time,” Soriano-Nicart said.

The study, titled Relentless Defenders Report, gathered insights from a double-blind survey done by Cisco on 8,000 cybersecurity specialists from 30 markets, including the Philippines.