THE government has awarded a P508.88-million cybersecurity deal to the Filipino-American consortium of Integrated Computer Systems Inc. (ICS) and Verint Systems to safeguard the Philippines from potential digital attacks that can cause harm to national security and technological stability.
In a press briefing, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Assistant Secretary Allan Cabanlong said the agency awarded the three-year deal to the consortium after three other bidders failed to qualify during the initial round of the auction.
The consortium offered the government P508.88 million for the deal, or a little lower than the P512-million budget. In a nutshell, the deal involves the monitoring and alleviation of threats and attacks against the Philippine digital economy, and the monitoring of the dark web.
“The scope of work is covering 10 priority agencies of government, plus the core National Cyber Intelligence Platform, which will have capability to monitor threats coming into the country,” Cabanlong said.
The deal, which covers the Departments of Finance, Energy, Foreign Affairs, Budget, National Defense, and ICT, is the first phase of the whole program. Cabanlong explained his group is currently identifying other agencies that will be included in the second phase of the program.
“We have identified at least 40 agencies that have high impact on national security and technological stability. We’re still identifying other agencies that can be included in the succeeding phases,” he said.
Other agencies included in the program’s initial phase are the Office of the President, National Security Council, Presidential Communications Operations Office and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency. The Philippines is not a stranger to cyber attacks, with government agencies and companies being hacked by both foreign and local cyber criminals.