AMID the growing threats and attacks online, Visayas is eyeing to be a cyber-ready region.
Lawyer Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, executive director of Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology, said they are looking to equip students with the capability to protect themselves from attacks online like phishing, hacking, and malwares.
“To achieve this, we have to create a pool of trainers. And these trainers will then train their students,” Sigue said.
Starting Friday, 60 Information Technology teachers from the Visayas are undergoing a two-day cybersecurity awareness training, at the Department of Information and Communications Technology-Negros Occidental office in Bacolod City.
These teachers will also undergo a Certified Secure Computer User certification examination.
“In any industry, technologies disrupt the way we think. We have to reinvent our workplace, our school, our organization because of technology. We are faced with drastic changes that must adapt with these technologies,” Batapa-Sigue said.
Among the key technology issues she pointed out are artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity.
“We have AI, which will affect the workforce because there are jobs that will be replaced by automation… There’s also cybersecurity. It’s very simple, if you have a house, you have to put fences, door lock, CCTV (closed-circuit television) camera to prevent theft, intrusion, and destruction. We live in a virtual world. A lot of us are exposed to online transactions. We have emails, social media accounts, and smartphones to connect to the internet, (which begs the question) how safe and secure are we online,” Batapa-Sigue explained.
She said the whole Visayas is gearing up to become a cyber-ready region.
Visayas is composed of the islands of Negros, Panay, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte and Samar.
Batapa-Sigue said there is a need to be globally integrated, adding that it’s imperative to equip the teachers with knowledge to help their students, who are the most vulnerable targets online, secure their virtual activities.
Cybersecurity training
Joeven Tansi, executive director of Iloilo Federation for Information Technology, said the two speakers from Indonesia and Singapore are certified lecturers on cybersecurity by EC-Council, a professional certification body.
Tansi said teachers were trained on how to secure computer systems on cyber attacks by utilizing protection applications.
He said their advocacy is to utilize wisely the applications, computers and mobile devices in securing data.
One common example where a person’s data will be vulnerable is not putting passwords on the computer, he said.
He said that most of the teachers and students are unaware that they are vulnerable to cyberthreats.
“We would like to be secured, than be victims of fake news and phishing,” he added.
Speaker Kevin Wu, who is from Wissen International Singapore which represents EC-Council, said he spoke topics on protecting users from viruses, malwares and spywares, and securing social media accounts and mobile usage.
He also urged everybody not to open email attachments from strangers as they could fall victims of phishing, a scheme to trick internet users into giving out personal information like passwords, bank account numbers, and credit card information.
“Be careful with fake emails that ask to change passwords. Don’t click, as that’s where the danger comes in. Never click and never change password from that site as they could access your bank cards and they can do whatever they want. Don’t open emails from strangers,” he said.
“We’re here to create security awareness among the people when they access internet and use their mobile phones and laptops,” he added.
Indonesian Alfian Pamungkas Sakawiguna, EC-Council consultant on cybersecurity, said that a user should have strong passwords on their virtual accounts and should keep their online information private.
To combat email phishing and other cyber attacks, he urged internet users to install anti-virus and firewall, and use genuine computer softwares.