How important is cybersecurity in today’s digital era? nChain’s Stephanie Tower explains on CoinGeek Backstage

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Data is the new oil, and it’s still a valid statement now that the world has ventured into using artificial intelligence (AI) or Large Language Models (LLMs) that feed in our data.

Cybersecurity is of utmost importance in this digital age, especially when protecting sensitive data and preventing cyberattacks. Building a solid foundation for cybersecurity is crucial in ensuring that such issues do not arise again. At the Digital Pilipinas Festival, a panel of experts moderated by nChain’s Business Development Lead for the Philippines,
Stephanie Tower, explored the common cybercrimes happening in the Philippines and the world and the approach to mitigating them.

CoinGeek Backstage caught up with Tower to discuss her takeaways from the panel discussion and how solutions like blockchain can help within the space. Tower sees that cybersecurity is not just a technical issue but a personal one. However, most private and government entities consider it an afterthought in their business operations.

“The cybersecurity panel that I moderated was probably one of the most insightful discussions I’ve ever been involved in,” Tower said, noting that she had the opportunity to share the stage with the Godfather of cybersecurity in the Philippines, Lito Averia, who had great insights into pushing cybersecurity in the country.

Sharing with CoinGeek Backstage, Tower said that a study revealed that cybercrime is projected to cost $10.5 trillion by 2025: “So imagine if that is a country, it’s like the richest country in terms of GDP. So there’s really an important attention that we should be giving around cybersecurity.”

In terms of the role blockchain takes in cybersecurity, the nChain Business Development Lead for the Philippines sees it as an effective solution to detect and resolve cyber-attacks more efficiently.

“Right now, in order for a cyber-attack to be detected, usually it takes an average of 212 days, and that’s a lot of time. It’s more than six months. But using blockchain solutions, it’s possible to do it [in] real time,” she said.

In the BSV blockchain ecosystem, Sentinel Node has already been working its fair share of action by protecting users and companies against cyber-attacks. In its activity report last October, the tool generated 10.9 million transactions in 2023 alone.

While traditional cybersecurity tools take an average of 212 days to detect a cyber-attack and another 75 days to contain it, Sentinel Node, a cybersecurity detection assurance tool powered by blockchain, provides a nearly instant—4000x faster, to be exact—file integrity and monitors any changes in network anomalies and events.

“It’s important for government agencies [and] private institutions to look into these solutions,” Tower pointed out. “As we move forward to digital transformation, which is the main initiative of the entire [PBBM] administration, digital literacy comes with it, as well as cybersecurity.”

“[Cybersecurity] is not a sole responsibility of the government to protect our digital world, but it is, in fact, a personal issue, a human issue,” she remarked. “Individuals should undertake any initiatives to ensure that they are protecting themselves because there are different crimes, different attacks happening in the digital world. So it’s a collective participation in order for us as a nation to move forward to digital transformation.”

nChain is a global blockchain solutions firm with projects across the Philippines, contributing to the digitalization improvements of the country. One of their priorities is to support the provincial government of Bataan in upping its ante in this golden digital age. Earlier this year, Block Dojo Philippines, an nChain-powered 12-week incubator program, launched in the province.

Watch: Bataan gov’t & nChain are aiming to bring the Philippines to its golden digital age