Japan's Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Visits Coastguard and PNR HQ

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Japanese Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Keichi Ishii, received warm welcome from Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade during his visit at the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Headquarters, Sunday afternoon.

With Minister Ishii was Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda, and some 20 men delegation.

PCG Commandant Rear Admiral Elson Hermogino briefed the minister on their recent maritime accomplishments using the Multi Role Response Vessel (MRRV) acquired through the generosity of the Japanese government.

From responding to sea mishaps, extending relief efforts to calamity stricken areas and providing maritime patrol and security in Philippine waters, MRRV's play a huge role in ensuring that the PCG is able to carry out its mandate.

Minister Ishii was very pleased with the recent accomplishments of the PCG using the MRRV's.

"It is with great pleasure to see that Japan's ships provided a number of accomplishments. Japan is promoting peace in the pacific. To promote free pacific, we must strengthen maritime capablities,” said Ishii.

The PCG is expecting the delivery of two (2) 94 meter vessels in 2021. The arrival of these vessels will greatly improve the capacity and performance of the agency.

"We expect that with the coming of the 94 meter vessels from Japan, it will greatly enhance our performance. This will also ensure that all Japanese vessels passing Philippine waters will be guarded and protected", said Rear Admiral Hermogino.

For his part, Sec. Tugade assured the Japanese government that all vessels are in good hands.

"I'm sure that if we will take care of these ships, Japanese government will be inspired to give us more,” Tugade said.

After exchanging pleasantries on board BRP Capones, Tugade handed over a PCG Command Plaque to Minister Ishii.

Tugade also accompanied Minister Ishii and Ambassador Haneda in their visit at the Philippine National Railways (PNR) Tutuban Station.

Undersecretary for Railways TJ Batan, PNR Chairman Roberto Lastimoso, and PNR General Manager Junn Magno gave the Japanese dignitaries a tour in one of the trains donated by the Japanese government sometime 2011.

At the end of the tour, Minister Ishii and Ambassador Haneda were presented with a Comrade Award from the officials of the PNR in appreciation of Japan's unwavering support to the country's railway system.

Minister Ishii will again join Secretary Tugade in a meeting today, 30 April 2018 at the DOTr Office in Clark, Pampanga, and is expected to do a site visit at the NSCR Malolos station before he flies back to Tokyo on Tuesday, 1 May 2018.

Cine Lokal Goes Global with International Collab Film ‘Train Station’

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Film Development Council of the Philippines is proud to announce the Philippine Premiere of the international drama film ‘Train Station’ in Cine Lokal. The film produced by McGoollagan Films in Association with US based filmmakers CollabFeature. This unique collaborative film features 40 directors in 25 countries with 43 actors taking on the the lead actor role of ‘The Person in Brown’ and has been described as a new genre in filmmaking, uniting cultures and breaking language barriers.

Train Station is about a mysterious train accident that forces a man to change his plans, he is confronted with a series of choices. Each decision he makes leads to different scenarios - filmed by a different director with a different cast. Almost transcendent in its treatment, the film has won more than 15 international awards and has multiple entries in the prestigious Guinness Book of World Records including Most Directors of a Feature Film, Most Female Directors of a Feature Film, Most Languages Spoken in a Feature Film, Most Country Locations of a Feature Film, and Most Number of Actors in the Lead Role.”

You are in for a whole new experience of a global film which you can catch in 8 SM Cinemas starting May 4th

SM Mall of Asia

SM Megamall

SM North Edsa

SM Fairview

SM Southmall

SM Bacoor

SM Sta. Mesa

SM Manila

Human Error: Leading Cause of Cybersecurity Breaches — Study

Wazzup Pilipinas!

A new worldwide study cited by leading DDoS Mitigation service provider IPC reveal that a lack of skills among employees is a critical barrier holding enterprises back from implementing threat management more effectively.

Conducted by the CyberEdge Group and IPC’s cybersecurity services partner Imperva Incapsula, the 2018 Cyberthreat Defense Report's 1,200 respondents showed that lack of skilled personnel and low security awareness among workers are the top two barriers that inhibit companies from adequately defending themselves from cyber-attacks.

The study was conducted in organizations with more than 500 employees in countries across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific (APAC). Some key findings in the APAC region include organizations in China and Japan leading all respondents in believing that they will be compromised by a successful cyber-attack this year, Chinese companies being the world’s leading victim of ransomware, and the position of IT security architect/engineer being the hardest to fill in Japan, China, and Singapore.

“Threats are constantly evolving and the chances of being attacked are increasing significantly as enterprises everywhere integrate new web-facing technology into their day-to-day systems. New types of attack methods are always emerging, and a single employee oversight can make or break a company. This study reveals how it is imperative to keep pace with the threat landscape as it evolves and continue educating ourselves on the latest attack methods,” said Niño Valmonte, IPC’s Director for Marketing & Digital Innovation.

Human error, negligence as top risk

The revelation that the lack of employee skills is a main inhibitor to effective cybersecurity is in line with the study’s other findings. When asked on what type of attack companies are most concerned with, the respondents’ answers revealed that the top three are Malware, Ransomware, and Phishing — threats that commonly enter a computer through the negligent actions of the user.

These three attacks are often spread through spam emails that contain malicious attachments. Opening the email will end up installing the threat into a computer. What’s more devastating about this is that once installed, most of them are programmed to automatically send themselves to the mailing list of an infected computer, thereby spreading itself further. Other common sources of the top three cyber threats are malicious files hidden inside downloaded files and software, and through a method called drive-by downloading, which occurs when malicious programs are automatically downloaded by visiting an infected website.

“Cybercriminals often use trickery to get people to unknowingly download malicious files. This can be an email with a file attached that tells you it is a receipt for a delivery, a new tool for a web browser, or even a bogus antivirus program that has malware hidden inside. These are just a few examples of how attackers can infiltrate a network that every company and its employees must know about,” said Valmonte.

Making cybersecurity education a priority

In order to avoid these threats, IPC recommends that businesses conduct constant training in order to instill the right skills, awareness, and the “cybersecurity culture” required in workers to fight against new and evolving threats.

“Cybersecurity education needs to be an integral part of the workplace culture, it doesn’t mean hosting a one-time course or seminar, it means making security a collaborative, continuous cultural initiative that will take up a lot of time but is a good investment in the long run with the fate of a company at stake.”, Valmonte adds.

According to IPC, organizations must first ensure that Cyber Security Education awareness and organizational security procedures are well established not only through periodic vulnerability assessment of their network and critical systems, but also in the mind-shaping of employees’ right from the induction and training process. In line with this, Valmonte recommends executives and middle managers to foster a culture of workplace security by talking to their respective teams about the following as a start:

●     Practices in keeping a computer clean, including sensibly limiting the programs, apps, and data that can be downloaded and installed, and speaking up whenever a computer exhibits strange behavior;

●     Using long, strong passwords that has the combination of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, symbols, numbers, and changing them routinely;

●     Recognizing and deleting email messages with suspicious subject lines and links;

●     Constant and consistent backup of files and/or applications;

“By starting with these steps, a company can already drastically reduce the installation of malicious programs within their network,” said Valmonte.