The Philippines is getting better in its defense against cyberattacks, an official of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said.

Although the country's capacity in detecting cyberattacks needs more improvement, DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy said the country is now "significantly better."

"We are significantly better now, our detection mechanisms are there, our protective systems are there and you will notice that we are now sharing information also with our allies," Dy said in a Palace briefing on Wednesday, June 26.

"We are also sharing with them how we found out certain tactics, techniques and procedures being employed by hackers of international origin," Dy added.

Dy, however, noted that unlike Singapore, which can detect at least 18,000 attacks per year, the Philippines can only detect around 3,000 per year.

"Singapore is only like six million people, but they are detecting approximately 18,000 attacks per year. We are only detecting around 3,000 per year. But we are 118 million Filipinos. So, I think we need to improve this by for example having a cybersecurity law that will mandate even the private sector to report to us, if there is a cybersecurity incident," he said.

The undersecretary also pointed out that the country needs more professionals to improve its coverage in terms of detecting cyberattacks.

Dy said while other countries have one certified professional foe every 200 people, the Philippines have one professional for every 2,000 to 3,000 people.

"We still need additional professionals, not only in government but also in the private sector to be able to sustain our drive to improve cybersecurity. For example in other countries there is approximately one certified professional for every 200 people. But in our case it’s one for every 2,000 or 3,000," Dy said.

According to Dy, the country only has 200 certified information systems security professional, adding that most of them are also finding work abroad.

"So that is what we are trying to resolve, get them here and how do we do that, by building an ecosystem of cybersecurity," he said.