Palo Alto: Bring Agility to Cybersecurity Programs;
Secure Resiliency across Domains

23 April 2024 –The Makati Business Club (MBC), in collaboration with global cybersecurity leader Palo Alto Networks (PANW), hosted a roundtable discussion on the latest cybersecurity trends.

The discussion was led by Siddharth Deshpande, Regional CSO for Asia Pacific of PANW – highlighting the growing threat to cybersecurity as cyber attackers become more creative, technical innovations, and new operating models that can mitigate it. 

“Having the visibility of what you deployed versus what you are paying for and figuring out whether there are overlaps and rationalizing that is critical because those efficiency savings can be put back into delivering business value in the organization,” said Deshpande.

Deshpande was joined by PANW’s ASEAN Regional Vice President Steven Scheurmann, and Country Manager Oscar Visaya, and talked to MBC members and attendees. Deshpande enumerated some challenges businesses might face in attaining robust cybersecurity – proving its financial value within an organization, countering shrinking attack windows, supporting business growth, and adapting to emerging regulatory demands.

USAID Beacon Project Cybersecurity Lead Pierre Galla urged attendees, “Shape the mind towards knowing that there are questions you don’t know you have… It is time for finance and risk officers of organizations to ask: What are the risks we don’t know? What are the risks that we are not yet aware are emerging? What are risks that are extant and have not yet been addressed?”

Deshpande closed the discussion by proposing three main strategies to strengthen cyber defense capabilities and protect communities effectively: aligning the cybersecurity approach with business outcomes, simplifying and consolidating technology, and leveraging AI and automation.

“Everyone talks about three major powers in the world at the moment. There is military power, trade power, and the third one, which no one talks about, is digital power. Digital is the third wave of power because no laws, governance, or regulations exist. The scary part is that hackers are taking advantage of this. Everyone talks about war– this is the real war play at the moment,”  added Steven Scheurmann, PANW VP for ASEAN. 

MBC roundtable discussions (RTDs) cover various topics relevant to the Philippine private sector. The RTDs allow business leaders to closely listen to experts discuss pressing issues and collaborate on the best strategies to address them.

Business leaders and CTOs/CISOs from various industries, including finance, manufacturing, and government attended the roundtable, marking the start of a partnership between MBC and PANW to improve cybersecurity in the Philippine business sector.