AI reshapes cybersecurity landscape across the Philippines

Artificial intelligence is now central to cybersecurity operations in the Philippines, with 92% of organizations already integrating AI technologies, according to a 2025 IDC survey commissioned by Fortinet.

The study reveals that AI has rapidly moved from experimentation to core functionality, enabling faster detection, more intelligent threat response, and increasingly predictive defense strategies.

Fortinet, a global cybersecurity leader, said AI is fundamentally changing how threats are identified and mitigated, pushing enterprises toward smarter, more agile security models.

“Organizations are no longer experimenting with AI, they are embedding it across threat detection, incident response, and team design,” said Simon Piff, research vice president at IDC Asia-Pacific.

The study found that 78% of Philippine organizations encountered AI-powered cyber threats in the past year, with 64% reporting a twofold increase in attacks and 28% seeing a threefold surge.

These attacks are more adaptive and harder to detect, often exploiting weaknesses in visibility, governance, and internal processes.

AI’s role in cybersecurity is expanding beyond detection to include predictive threat modeling, AI-powered incident response, threat intelligence, and behavioral analytics.

The use of generative AI is also increasing in lighter operational tasks such as playbook execution, rules updates, and social engineering detection.

However, the study notes limited trust in fully autonomous AI actions, with most organizations still in the “co-pilot” phase of deployment.

The shift to AI-first security strategies is also reshaping the workforce, with the top roles in demand including security data scientists, AI security engineers, and AI-specific incident responders.

“CISOs across the Philippines are entering a more advanced phase of cybersecurity planning,” said Bambi Escalante, country manager at Fortinet Philippines.

She added that AI is now influencing hiring, budgeting, and threat prioritization, as cyber risks become increasingly complex and distributed.

Cybersecurity budgets are increasing across the Philippines, though modestly—44% of respondents reported gains under 5%, while 36% saw increases between 5–10%.

Spending is shifting from infrastructure to more targeted priorities such as identity security, network security, SASE/Zero Trust, cyber resilience, and cloud-native protection.

Despite rising investment, many cybersecurity teams remain understaffed and overextended, with only 6% of an organization’s workforce typically dedicated to internal IT, and just 13% of that to cybersecurity.

Only 6% of surveyed companies have a dedicated security operations team or a standalone chief information security officer (CISO).

This lack of specialization is impacting performance, as teams struggle with a surge in threats, tool overload, and retention issues.

The survey also found that 96% of Philippine organizations are either actively converging or considering convergence between networking and security.

In addition, 70% are exploring vendor consolidation strategies to reduce complexity, improve integration, and strengthen their overall security posture.

The IDC study surveyed 550 IT and security leaders across 11 Asia-Pacific markets between February and April 2025.

Published in August 2025, the findings are featured in the IDC Info Snapshot titled State of Cybersecurity in Asia/Pacific: From Constant Risk to Platform-Driven Resilience (IDC Doc ##AP242530IB).