ONLY 6% of organizations in the Philippines have “mature” cybersecurity systems that are up to the task of handling threats, Cisco Systems said.
Citing the findings of a study, it said hyper connectivity and artificial intelligence (AI) have increased the complexity of cybersecurity.
“While there have been significant advancements in AI, its deployment in cybersecurity defenses appears to have stalled, suggesting that companies are still grappling with concerns around trust, effectiveness, and integration,” Cisco said in its 2025 Cybersecurity Readiness Index report.
According to Cisco, about 40% of Philippine organizations are considered “progressive” in their cybersecurity readiness. Meanwhile, 52% were at the formative level, and 2% at the beginner level.
It also noted that 75% of Philippine respondents anticipate business disruptions from cyber incidents within the next one to two years.
“As AI transforms the enterprise, we are dealing with an entirely new class of risks at unprecedented scale — putting even more pressure on our infrastructure and those who defend it,” Cisco Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel said in a statement.
Some 93% of organizations use AI to understand threats better, Cisco said. Others use AI for threat detection (84%), as well as response and recovery (84%).
While 57% of Philippine organizations use approved third-party GenAI tools, 92% face increased security risks as employees access unapproved GenAI tools in unmanaged devices.
Cisco also reported that 57% lack confidence in detecting unregulated AI deployments, or shadow AI. Furthermore, 82% said their complex security infrastructures impede their ability to quickly respond to threats.
The 2025 Cisco Cybersecurity Readiness Index was based on a double-blind survey of 8,000 business leaders with cybersecurity functions in their companies. These covered 30 territories in North and Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz