Level 11 Tech backs Cyber Range for cyber-security education in the Philippines

Philippines-based consultancy Level 11 Tech has sought to address the local dearth in cyber-security skills through Cyberbit’s Cyber Range education.

Consultancies worldwide have been stepping up one after the other to sound the alarm on the global shortage of skilled cyber-security talent, with businesses in Southeast Asia under greater threat than anywhere else on the planet – due to an especially high interregional connectedness and a current lack of cohesion between regional governance measures. And the threat is significant, estimated at a $750 billion loss in market capitalisation for ASEAN companies in the coming years.

When it comes to the pressing cyber-skills shortage, the Philippines is no different. The question, however, according to local IT services, consulting and business solutions firm Level 11 Tech, is how do you train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals? One solution; Cyberbit’s unique Cyber Range training and simulation platform, with Cyberbit distributed exclusively by Level 11 Tech partner ItSdi in the Philippines.

Firstly, some figures around the urgency of the issue in a local context: The Philippines was the 10th most attacked country worldwide in terms of online infections in the third quarter of 2018 according to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Labs, and was also ranked 10th in the 2018 Global Terrorism Index released by the Institute for Economics and Peace. Naturally, highlights Level 11 Tech, such statistics serve as a significant disincentive for enterprises to relocate to the country.

The firm also notes the efforts underway to address the threat locally, including the National Cybersecurity Plan 2022, but, with $67 billion in cybersecurity investment required between 2017 and 2025 to bring the Philippines up to just average benchmark levels, more initiatives to address the local cyber-skills shortage will be needed – including universities and technical colleges promoting cybersecurity as a career option and adding it to their syllabus.This is indeed under current consideration, with the Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology coordinating with the Department of Education, and AMA (Computer) University planning to offer a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity based on the curriculum from the joint US Department of Defense and German Federal Ministry of Defence’s George Marshall European Centre for Security Studies.

Here, Level 11 points to Cyberbit’s Cyber Range – a key component of many academic Cybersecurity degree programmes worldwide. Tailored to levels of experience and job functions, Cyber Range is a training platform which simulates a wide selection of simulated cyber-attack scenarios in a controlled environment, enabling organisations to establish and manage hyper-realistic training centers proven to boost information security team performance.

From beginner to advanced level scenarios, participants – including incident responders, analysts, red teams, business executives and students – can experience what a real cyber-attack is like and how to counteract such an attack, while academic programming directors can use the solution to build cyber simulation exercises into every relevant course in their cybersecurity curricula – the hands-on exercises complementing the core courses offered.

With other installations only available in Singapore and India to date in the Asian region, Level 11 Tech states; “Cyber Range training not only closes the gap of cybersecurity professionals in the country, but it puts the Philippines as one of the leaders when it comes to cybersecurity competence in the whole Asia Pacific. This sophisticated technology can pave the way for introducing cybersecurity into the syllabus of higher education and to enhance the skills of Filipino cybersecurity experts to make them globally competitive.”

Among a number of Level 11 Tech worldwide partners (including UK cybersecurity company Bluedog, with which it joined in hosting a showcase event in Manila last month), ItSdi was established in 2004 as a distributor of enterprise infrastructure and cybersecurity products and solutions. ItSdi is the exclusive Philippines’ distributor of Cyberbit, which leverages cutting-edge cybersecurity technologies initially designed for government and military organisations.