BUSINESSES will incur losses of P6.15 billion every day if hackers succeed in carrying out a cyberattack on the country's most essential infrastructures.

This is based on the 2021 PSEI (Philippine Stock Exchange Inc.) financial report, when it comes to attacking the main Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) in the Philippines.

This is the reason that many large companies, especially those that use innovative technology and handle sensitive data, to hire their own cybersecurity professionals to keep them safe from attack.

But in contrast to the current situation in the country where there are many users of latest or most advance technology, it is known that there are hardly any cybersecurity experts in the nation who would ensure the security of cyberspace.

According to the senior economic growth specialist of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Economic Development Governance John Avila, there are only around 200 cybersecurity professionals in the country.

The government is being urged by experts and advocates to pay attention to this issue and increase the public knowledge of the significance of the cybersecurity profession.

According to Carlos Ely Tingson, senior vice president of Cyber Risk, Kroll, three out of four companies in the country have experienced the threat of a cyberattack.

According to the PSEI data, there is a high risk of cyberattack in the following six industries: banking or financing, transportation, telecommunications, electricity, water, and healthcare, not to mention the government sector and the business process outsourcing (BPO) market.

In fact, the US Embassy in Manila's press attaché, Kanishka Gangopadhyay, revealed that the development of cybersecurity professionals in the nation should extend beyond the government and critical infrastructure (CI) sectors to include BPOs, which employ many Filipinos.

One of the biggest BPOs in the nation is known to be owned by a US corporation.

The United States has increased the provision of funds for the training of new cybersecurity professionals as part of its assistance to the nation, according to Saptarshi Basu, Philippines Economic Officer US Embassy Manila.

According to the 2022 (ISC) Cybersecurity Workforce Study, the demand for cybersecurity workforce has reached 3.4 million worldwide.

Due to the scarcity of universities that offer cybersecurity courses, only a small number of people actually finish the required training and certification, despite the enormous demand for cybersecurity expertise. (With TPT)