MANILA, Philippines — There is no room for complacency when it comes to cybersecurity despite the tapering off in the number of attacks compared to the earlier days of the community quarantine, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.
In a virtual press conference, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the central bank continues to strengthen its digital financial supervision by enhancing its regulatory framework, adopting supervisory technology and implementing capacity-building measures.
“These initiatives will further bolster the BSP’s capability to foster the stability of the financial system amid rising digital transactions. This is in line with our broader efforts to establish supervisory reforms suitable for ‘the new economy,” Diokno said.
He said the central bank is transitioning toward the use of the Supervisory Assessment Framework (SAFr) which facilitates risk-focused and calibrated supervision according to a BSP-supervised financial institution (BSFI)’s business model and relative importance to the financial system.
Also in the pipeline are issuances on digital banking, cloud computing, virtual asset service provider and the cybersecurity maturity model.
“These reforms aim to support the digital transformation of BSFIs, including financial technology players, while promoting sound cyber risk management,” the BSP chief said.
Diokno said cyberthreats predominantly in the form of phishing emails and malicious websites with a spin on COVID-19 increased during the earlier days of the lockdown when Luzon was placed under enhanced community quarantine.
As a result, the BSP and financial institutions launched targeted cybersecurity awareness campaigns to combat phishing and social engineering attacks.
“They have likewise intensified their surveillance monitoring of this cyberthreats, including implementation of tighter network controls such as stringent firewall settings and point protection and whitelisting of websites or applications, among others,” Diokno said.