PH can learn from Israel’s cyber defense structure

The Philippines can learn a thing or two from Israel, which has been tagged as a cybersecurity powerhouse worldwide, a cybersecurity expert said Wednesday. (Photo by Rob Nguyen/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

MANILA — The Philippines can learn a thing or two from Israel, which has been tagged as a cybersecurity powerhouse worldwide, a cybersecurity expert said Wednesday.

“(Israel) has exploited technologies to push back Arabs to hold the peace. If they can do it why not us?” cybersecurity and computer forensics expert Drexx Laggui told the Philippine News Agency.

Laggui, in a forum in Makati City, pointed out that the current situation in the Philippines and abroad is that criminals and terrorists are taking advantage of technology to hide their illegal activities, do surveillance against victims, assess escape routes or plan ambushes.

“This is an additional challenge for our law enforcers,” Laggui said noting that criminals and terrorists are now better equipped and it’s about time for authorities to keep up with the trend.

“What we like about the approach we’re copying from Israel is that we use technology to shift the balance of power from the criminal back to the law enforcement,” he added.

Laggui said that aside from making use of world-class technology, it is just as important to invest in training law enforcement to use these technologies.

“You can buy the latest tools but if you don’t know how to use it, it’s useless,” Laggui said.

He further said that law enforcers must keep in mind of how dependent criminals and terrorists are on their mobile phones.

“Mobile phones know more about your secret lives than your wife, best friend or anybody else,” he noted.

Security Architect Erez Lugassi of the MAROEV Cyber Systems, Inc., a cyber defense consulting firm, for his part, acknowledged that it is still going to be difficult to prevent criminals and terrorists from recruiting members but the best way to try was to engage with foreign companies and technologies.

“(The government) should engage with a lot of foreign companies, foreign technologies. There (is) a lot of good people here,” Lugassi said.

“If we train the people and give them jobs here then we have a much better chance of protecting our information,” he added.

Laggui and Lugassi were two of the four speakers in the Cyber Defense Forum: Are You Prepared organized by the Israel Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.