MORE THAN 70% of Philippine industrial organizations experienced cyberattacks in their operational technology (OT) environments in 2023, according to a report from cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks.
In the 2024 State of OT Security: A Comprehensive Guide to Trends, Risks, and Cyber Resilience report released on Thursday, 76.5% of the surveyed Filipino respondents reported that their organizations had at least one cyberattack in 2023.
Equally alarming is the frequency of these attacks, with about 48.7% of respondents experiencing attacks monthly or weekly, the report said.
Palo Alto Networks surveyed 1,979 OT and IT business leaders across 23 countries, including 51 respondents in the Philippines, in December 2023.
“The growing attacks on industrial operators highlight the urgent need for proactive risk mitigation and system resilience,” Oscar Visaya, Philippines Country Manager at Palo Alto Networks said.
Mr. Visaya said that as industrial operations undergo digital transformation amid the AI (artificial intelligence) era, traditional security measures are “inadequate” against advanced threats.
Instead, he recommended adopting AI-driven defenses to analyze large data sets and detect patterns of impending threats, often before an attack occurs.
About 23.1% of Filipino organizations had to shut down industrial operations in the last year due to a successful attack, the firm said.
Meanwhile, 70.6% of respondents viewed security as a high priority, while 56.9% expected to increase spending on OT cybersecurity in the next two years.
The report also found that more than 70% of respondents identified AI attacks against OT as a critical issue, but four out of five agreed that AI will be key to stopping OT attacks.
Additionally, 92.2% believed that moving to the cloud would reinforce OT security, but 64.7% said it would also create increased cybersecurity challenges in the next two years. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante
