Left to Right: Anna Cordero (Trend Micro, Inc. HR Director), Mitchel Chang (Trend Micro, Inc. Vice President for CSR & Education), Dr. Florencio Gaa, PhD (UA&P Dean of the School of Science & Engineering) and Cyrus Buenafe (UA&P Chair of the Department of Information & Technology)
MANILA, Philippines – In 2016 alone, over a thousand cybercrimes were reported to the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG). And early this year, Microsoft Asia Pacific declared the Philippines as the 8th most vulnerable in the region with a malware encounter rate of 19.2%.
The industry might be growing, but the lack of good, accessible and relevant education means there are not enough skilled cybersecurity professionals to go around. According to ISACA, a non-profit information security advocacy group, 22% of organizations in Asia are unable to fill open cybersecurity positions.
To address this widening skills gap, Trend Micro, Inc. co-founder and CEO Eva Chen established the Trend Initiative for Education (TIE) and appointed Mitchel Chang, the Vice President for CSR & Education, as the lead.
Under TIE is the Cyber Security Education Enablement (CSEE) Program, which aims to equip schools and public organizations with up-to-date content and solutions in order to enhance their cybersecurity curriculum.
The CSEE Program is currently on its pilot year in the Philippines with the participation of several universities already underway. The University of Asia & the Pacific and the University of Santo Tomas signed memorandums of understanding with Trend Micro on December 4 while talks with several more universities are still ongoing.
Present during the signing were Mitchel Chang (Trend Micro, Inc. Vice President for CSR & Education), Dr. Florencio Gaa, PhD (UA&P Dean of the School of Science & Engineering) and Professor Cheryl Peralta, PTRP, DrPH (UST Vice Rector for Academic Affairs).
“We are excited to be piloting this program with two of the country’s leading universities. The lack of security experts is a real threat amid the growing incidence of cybercrime in the Philippines and the world,” said Mr. Chang.
“By partnering with schools, Trend Micro hopes to address this industry issue where it can make the most difference. We want to help shape the future of cybersecurity through education and proper training.”
Another project under the Trend Initiative for Education is the global Internet Safety for Kids and Families (ISKF) Program. In the Philippines, among the ISKF initiatives include the “What’s Your Story?” Art Caravan, which is aimed at raising awareness about Internet safety among kids and families through digital and traditional art. This year, the theme was, “If you could change one thing about the Internet, what would it be?”
Left to Right: Anna Cordero (Trend Micro, Inc. HR Director), Mitchel Chang (Trend Micro, Inc. Vice President for CSR & Education), Prof. Cheryl Peralta, PTRP, DrPH (UST Vice Rector for Academic Affairs) and Asst. Prof. Jerralyn Padua (UST Acting Director of the Institute of Information & Computing Sciences)
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ABOUT TREND MICRO
Founded in 1988, Trend Micro initially developed antivirus software. Over the last three decades, the company has become a market leader in hybrid cloud security, network defense, small business security, and endpoint security.
Trend Micro has the most advanced threat intelligence network in the world – Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™, which is continually enhanced by big data analytics and machine learning, and bolstered by hundreds of Trend Micro security experts.
The company also offers products for homes and businesses. Trend Micro XGen™ security, in particular, provides a cross-generational blend of threat defense techniques against a full range of threats for data centers, cloud environments, networks, and endpoints.
XGen™ features high-fidelity machine learning to secure the gateway and endpoint data and applications, and protects physical, virtual, and cloud workloads. With capabilities like web/URL filtering, behavioral analysis, and custom sandboxing, the product protects against today’s purpose-built threats that bypass traditional controls, exploit known, unknown, or undisclosed vulnerabilities, and either steal or encrypt personally identifiable data.
Smart, optimized, and connected, XGen™ powers Trend Micro’s suite of security solutions: Hybrid Cloud Security, User Protection and Network Defense.