A possible integration of a Cybersecurity curriculum for the Senior High School is in the works as the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is coordinating with the Department of Education (DepEd).
According to a recent announcement, this is to further engage the youth in cyber resiliency initiatives.
The plan was proposed by the Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity and Enabling Technologies in order to attract interest among the youth for a career in cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity has seen a growing demand with the continuous digital transformation in industry operations.
The global need for cybersecurity professionals will not slow down and will only continue to grow exponentially.
This plan comes after the Department has sealed a partnership with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for the development of a Bachelor degree in Cybersecurity in college.
The Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity program will be offered by AMA University next year. It will be adopting a curriculum from the George Marshall European Centre for Security Studies.
Other colleges and universities are set to follow suit in offering the program.
While nationwide cybersecurity awareness and training programs are being conducted by the Cybersecurity Bureau, the need to address the shortage of cybersecurity-skilled professionals is also emphasised.
This can be done through the integration of cybersecurity in the academe to improve the country’s cyber resiliency.
The short supply of cybersecurity talents was actually one of the issues tackled during the first Philippine International Cybersecurity Conference (PICC) 2018.
This event gathered around 600 local and international cybersecurity and ICT leaders, experts, and policy makers to strengthen the role of the government, private industry and civil society in countering cybercrime.
Aside from the capacity building strategy, the Cybersecurity Bureau is doing other initiatives to continually strengthen the Philippine cybersecurity landscape.
These are the enforcement of the National Security Strategy and the establishment of the National Cyber Intelligence Platform.
These reinforce the capabilities of the Philippine Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-PH).
According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Global Cybersecurity Index 2017, the Philippines is the 10th among ITU members in the Asia Pacific region and 37th among 193 ITU member-states globally.
The Cybersecurity Bureau of the Department is working 24 hours a day and 7 days a week in order to guarantee the protection of the Philippine cyberspace amidst all of these cyber threats.
As reported earlier, PICC 2018 was designed to showcase the country’s journey towards its goal of cyber resiliency.
With the theme, “Road to Resiliency”, was an offering of the Department to the Filipino People. The journey to cyber resiliency is a feat of the people, for the people.
Protecting the cyberspace is not a sole responsibility of the Department, but is a shared duty and a common goal among every citizen of the nation.
