Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 4) — The Armed Force of the Philippines (AFP) is aiming to develop the country’s cyber defense capabilities through the annual military drill with the United States.
The country’s exercise director, Maj. Gen. Marvin Licudine, said the Philippines needs to learn more about cyber defense from an experienced country like its long-time ally.
“The cyber defense exercise is more for us on the Philippine side to develop our cyber defense capabilities. We are not yet technically proficient; our systems are not that proficient yet. So, we learn from the better ones, we learn from our counterparts,” he said in a press briefing on Tuesday as the drills kick off.
“So, it would mean in the future we will develop the expertise of people, taking in some equipment to be able to efficiently address the cyber abilities of other countries,” Licudine also said.
This is the first time that cyber defense exercises will be part of the Balikatan drills, which will run until April 27. Other major events in the drill include command post exercise, field training exercise, and humanitarian civic assistance.
For his part, US exercise director Major Gen. Eric Austin said that cyber threats are now something that the military has to deal with.
“The fact that we are exercising cyber defense is testimony to the changing character of warfare and the fact that all of our services have to modernize and adapt to meet the threat that exists across the world,” Austin said.
“In addition to this, we have to understand that cyberspace and information are domains that we have to work in as armed forces,” he added.
According to a report of a US-based cybersecurity group in 2021, alleged state-sponsored Chinese hackers are targeting government organizations in Southeast Asia including the Philippine Navy.
The AFP in 2022 conducted a cyber defense training, but it noted that the training was not directed against any country.
