The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in the Philippines has awarded a contract for the development of a national cybersecurity platform called Cybersecurity Management System for intelligence sharing, monitoring threats and defending the country’s cyber ‘infostructure’ from cyberattacks. The platform aims to strengthen the resilience of the country, as part of the vision laid out in the National Cybersecurity Plan 2022 of having a “trusted and resilient infostructure.”
The system will be developed by a joint venture between Philippine company, Integrated Computer Systems, Inc., and Israel’s Verint System Limited, a provider of surveillance tools to companies and the Israeli government. The joint venture won the contract last year after submitting a PHP 508 million (USD 9.7 million) bid. The collaboration between the two companies was among those signed by President Rodrigo Duterte during his trip to Israel in September 2018. The Philippines had been reinforcing its partnership with Israel regarding its military capability buildup, supplying the country with air surveillance radars, surface to surface missiles, and force protection equipment.
The project runs with a license period of three years. The project will be delivered to DICT’s Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center in ten months which will be responsible on setting up parameters and manning the monitoring using also the AI tools to be supplied by ICS-Verint.
The centralized monitoring platform would enhance the country’s ability to act on threats, before, during, and after cyber attacks. It would also monitor cyberthreats in the dark web in support of law enforcement authorities, defense, and drug enforcement agencies functions as needed. The project’s first phase would cater to 10 government agencies that were identified as priorities: DICT, the Office of the President, the Department of Finance, the Department of Energy, Department of Foreign Affairs, the National Security Council, the Department of Budget and Management, the Presidential Communications Operations Office, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, and the Department of National Defense.
(Sources: Philippine Daily Inquirer; Philippine News Agency; Business World )
