BrazilUK's Bluedog holds cybersecurity event with Level 11 Tech in Manila
UK-based cybersecurity company Bluedog and local consultancy Level 11 Tech have hosted an event in Manila to showcase Bluedog’s Sentinel; a cost-effective security solution for SMEs in the Philippines.
Cybersecurity company Bluedog Security Monitoring of the UK and its Philippines-based consulting partner Level 11 Tech have joined together to host an event showcasing Bluedog’s Sentinel, a plug and play Internal Network Security Monitoring solution for MSPs (managed service providers) and the SME (small and medium enterprises) market – designed to offer levels of network protection typically only affordable to larger corporations.
The event – held at the The Picasso Boutique Hotel in Manila’s business district Makati – brought together members of the media and value added resellers (VARs) for a series of presentations from Level 11 Tech and Bluedog leaders on cyber and data security, the local SME landscape, and threats to smaller businesses, which with lower budgets and lesser expertise are commonly the most susceptible to sophisticated attacks.
Level 11 Tech’s Chief Technology Adviser Robert Williams opened the event with an overview of the cybersecurity and data privacy realm, focusing on the different types of cyber-attacks and data breaches occurring globally and their ramifications for the SME sector. Described as a game-changer, Williams urged organisations both big and small to take a holistic ‘People, Process & Tools’ approach to combating cyber threats and reducing operational risks.
Highlighting the heightened vulnerability of SMEs to security breaches, Williams in his presentation outlined the effects of malware and phishing attacks on smaller enterprises, which he noted were increasingly being targeted and were rarely prepared for either the attack or the cost of recovering from such an incident. According to Williams, the most common attack types against SMEs remain ransomware, phishing and malware – which in more than 90 percent of cases are still delivered via e-mail.
Statistics provided by Level 11 Tech show that 78 percent of people claim to know the risks associated with unknown links yet still commonly click on them, while for businesses, 67 percent hit with ransomware permanently lost all or part of their corporate data. Exacerbating the issue, the highly interconnected ASEAN region is according to a report from A.T. Kearney last year significantly lagging behind on cyber-defense, with the Philippines well below the global average on spending at just 0.04 percent of GDP.
The presentation from Williams was followed by talks from Bluedog’s Chief Technology Officer Tim Thurlings, providing an in-depth and comprehensive overview of the cybersecurity threat landscape, and from Bluedog Channel Partner Colin Darbyshire, who presented updated statistics of SMEs in the Philippines and the growing opportunities VARs have when it comes to offering the Sentinel solution.
“With cyber-attacks against smaller businesses on the increase and budgets stretched, SMEs are vulnerable to cyber criminals in increasingly large numbers,” concluded Bluedog CEO Paul Lomax, adding that attackers are now focusing their attention on these less suspecting and more easily penetrated victims. The Sentinel solution, says the firm, can provide powerful and affordable monitoring to quickly detect, diagnose, and resolve network issues that could lead to devastating attacks.
Following the success of the presentation, the first for Bluedog in the Philippines, its organisers have said that another event is now in the works for the coming months, with the aim of providing further insights and highlighting new perspectives on best industry practices as implemented in the UK – a goal which Level 11 Tech states is in line with its mission to raise awareness and pave the way for more local cybersecurity experts in the Philippines.
Based in the capital, Level 11 Tech – a division of Alexander Karl Group Corporation – in addition to its Cybersecurity expertise provides Enterprise Architecture, Business Process Management, Data Privacy and Digital Transformation consulting and implementation services to Filipino clients in the Government, Telecom, ICT and Enterprise sectors, with a focus on complex and innovative technology solutions.
