DITO Telecommunity uses retired colonel to reinforce cybersecurity

MANILA – DITO Telecommunity, the third largest telecommunications player in the country, hired a retired military officer to help strengthen its security systems against cyberattacks.

This, amid concerns about the participation of a Chinese state company in the consortium, while Manila and Beijing remain locked in a dispute over the Western Philippine Sea.

DITO’s chief technology officer, Rodolfo Santiago, said the former colonel is an expert in cybersecurity. The company has hired at least 9 retired military personnel to help run the company, Santiago said.

Dito’s chief technology officer, Rodolfo Santiago, says they hired a retired colonel from the Philippine Armed Forces to bolster their cybersecurity system.

– Bruce T. Rodríguez (@BruceTRodriguez) December 10, 2020

“Cybersecurity was not fashionable then, cybersecurity is being studied. We also have to make sure that our network will not be used to threaten national security,” Santiago said at a press conference.

(Cybersecurity wasn’t that great yet, and this military officer was already studying cybersecurity.)

Accounting firm RG Manabat & Co. (KPMG Philippines) will conduct a technical audit at DITO in January next year, ahead of its March schedule for business launch.

Adel Tamano, managing director of DITO, for his part, said they plan to invite Senator Grace Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services, other government officials and the media to be part of their second test of the network. .

Unlike other telcos, the government required DITO to provide a cybersecurity plan, which the latter took into account, saying it is investing heavily in security systems.

DITO said that despite their limited coverage compared to other large telecoms operators, they hope to compensate with better services.

The company has enough fiber cables and towers to meet its commitments to the government in March, he added.

DITO previously committed to providing at least 27 Mbps of Internet speed at 37 percent or about 7,425 barangays in its first year of service.

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