Trend Micro held its annual cybersecurity conference last November 14 with Decode 2023: Resilience Rising. Held at EDSA Shangri-la Hotel, over 700 attendees participated in the day-long event to learn about the latest topics on cybersecurity.

With all the cybersecurity issues that the country has faced in the past few months, here are five of the key insights revealed at Decode 2023:

1. Hackers are progressively getting more creative. The rapid advancement of technology has enabled hackers to be more creative with their schemes. One of the main examples presented is a virtual kidnapping scam, where hackers would utilize AI-powered voice cloning tools and deepfakes to simulate a kidnapping scheme involving kids at a daycare or a school.

As a response, cybersecurity firms and professionals are also working on upgrading their systems and upskilling the workforce to build their resiliency in detecting such schemes. 

 

2. Artificial intelligence can be our friend or foe. As more of us are utilizing the power of AI, it can be a double-edged sword depending on how one utilizes it. Trend Micro Director of Forward-Looking Threat Research Rober McArdle mentioned that while cybercriminals are exploring the capabilities of AI to exploit people, cybersecurity firms and professionals are also doing the same to ensure that AI-assisted threats are detected early and are immediately addressed.

 

3. Our convenience is their convenience. Despite that biometrics served as a secure and innovative alternative to passwords, the internet has become a platform where voices, faces, and even fingerprints leak regularly. Cybercriminals can take advantage of these stolen biometric data to easily access the personal and private data of daily consumers, revealing sensitive information such as bank accounts, addresses, and more.

With that in mind, resource speakers at Decode 2023 emphasized the importance of keeping your biometrics safe, as they are also important in keeping your identity on the internet secure as well.

 

4. Updates are always important. With the number of ransomware attacks happening daily, it was emphasized that organizations should keep their security system updated at all times. It’s also elaborated that the software that we use in our day-to-day life, from the system software of our phones and laptops to the software of our printers and graphics/multimedia applications, are consistently updated by developers.

These updates are there to ensure that you are safe from any form of ransomware attacks, given that hackers are more aggressive these days–just look at what happened to PhilHealth recently, where almost 20 million users were affected by the massive data breach.

5. Always prepare for the feature. Cyber threats have evolved from simple email scams intended to get bank credentials and passwords to data breaches affecting the biggest organizations and institutions worldwide. These organized and complex crimes that once attracted media coverage for weeks at a time have now become so frequent, happening on an almost weekly basis today. The good news is that since most criminals focus on short-term and easy executions, cybersecurity professionals and security tools can use trends and predictions from reports like Trend Micro’s Mid-year Cybersecurity Threat Report, to always be two steps ahead of the game.