With the relevant cyber attacks happening in the Philippines today, the country must need to implement a tougher law that can safeguard information and communications technology (ICT) systems that can fight against it.
Filed by Senator Raffy Tulfo, Senate Bill No. 1701, or the Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Act (CIIPA) seeks to establish a framework that will make sure of the security and reliability of the country's digital ecosystem, which is crucial to achieving the goal of the new administration for safe, seamless, and reliable digitalization and connectivity.
Also, the measure will assist in protecting the country's ICT system versus the vulnerabilities, stealing of information, disruption of essential services, and other attacks.
Institutions that are part of the Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) are required to conduct an annual assessment of their information security using standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology or the Center for Internet Security Controls.
The CII institution must develop policies, rules, and documented procedures for implementing the information security standard of their choice, and they must be submitted annually.
According to the National Economic Development Authority or the Philippine Statistics Authority, CII institutions are any government agency or private company that owns, operates, controls, and/or maintains critical information infrastructure.
These operations must be nationwide in scope and/or cover metropolitan areas like Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.
Banks, broadcast media, emergency services, health care, telecommunications, and transportation are a few of these institutions.
The Philippines placed fourth internationally in terms of the number of web dangers and 61st out of 194 nations in the Global Cybersecurity Index according to the Cost of Data Breaches Report 2022.
