PH firms must brace for AI-powered attacks

Philippine enterprises need to keep their guards up against the further proliferation of digital attacks backed by artificial intelligence (AI), according to cybersecurity firm Check Point, reminding them.

Check Point, in its "Cybersecurity Predictions 2025" report, noted that cybercriminals were keen on making their attacks more scalable and sophisticated with the use of AI.

The AI-powered threats include the typical phishing emails that are crafted with "flawless grammar," making them more deceiving in the eyes of the recipients.

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Phishing emails, which are usually sent to multiple individuals at once, are embedded with suspicious web addresses linking to fake websites where unsuspecting victims will be tricked into providing sensitive information.

"This next generation of phishing attacks will leverage AI’s ability to learn from real-time data, adapting in response to evolving security measures, thus making detection even more challenging," the firm explained.

Check Point noted that an enterprise in the Philippines deals with 4,003 cyberattacks per week, which is higher than the Asia-Pacific region's average of 2,870.

"The rapid evolution of cybercrime demands adaptability and companies that fail to evolve risk becoming the next victim," it added.

In the Philippines, companies dealt with 846,837 web threats in the first half of last year, according to a report by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

Southeast Asia, in total, saw over 26 million web attacks for the period. Most of these were logged in Malaysia with 19.6 million threats, followed by Indonesia with 3.2 million.

Vietnam dealt with 1.4 million attacks, while Thailand saw 1.06 million. Singapore had the fewest web threats with 574,292.

(2025/01/06-07:56)