PHOTO (L-R): Alma Saturnino-Alvarez, Director of Threat Hunting and Cybersecurity Education, Trend Micro, Engr. Pierre Tito Galla, Cybersecurity Lead, USAID/BEACON, Zaidy Serdon, Cybersecurity Specialist, USAID/BEACON, Darlene Jardin, Program Officer and Strategic Partnerships, USAID/BEACON, Danny Adams, Deputy Chief of Party, USAID/Philippines Better Access and Connectivity (BEACON) Activity, Max Cheng, EVP, Chief Information Officer, and Chief Technology Officer, Trend Micro, Alan Chen, Vice President, Core Technology, Trend Micro, Cyril Lim, Senior Director, Core Technology Operations, Trend Micro, and Myla Pilao, Director of Technology Marketing, Trend Micro.
Last December 15, Trend Micro Philippines signed an official partnership with the United States Agency for International Development’s BEACON (Better Access and Connectivity) Project, aimed at promoting economic growth through better information and communications technology to ultimately bridge the digital divide in the country.
Max Cheng, Trend Micro’s Chief Information Officer shares, “Trend Micro is happy to partner with USAID’s BEACON to produce more avenues and opportunities to upskill Filipino citizens and professionals and close the cybersecurity skills gap. With BEACON by our side, we are confident that we will be able to reach even more Filipinos, and further improve and strengthen the Philippines’ cybersecurity resilience.”
The partnership is the result of prior collaborations between Trend Micro and USAID’s BEACON on two episodes of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT)’s Cybersecurity Proficiency Improvement Training or CPIT program. The episodes focused on understanding security operations centers (SOCs) and CIS Critical Security Controls–topics that align with the expertise of global cybersecurity leader Trend Micro.
Trend Micro and USAID’s BEACON are set to collaborate on more initiatives in 2024, starting with a bootcamp on advanced persistent threats and malware analysis. The bootcamp will serve as another initiative focused on capability building, beyond Trend’s previous partnerships with local universities and both local and international law enforcement agencies over the past year.
On top of the new partnership, Trend Micro and the humanitarian non-governmental organization, Tzu Chi Foundation, will also be concluding an engagement this December. Members of the foundation were received and trained at Trend Micro for three months, covering the basics of cybersecurity, including the Fundamentals of Security Threats, SOC Cyberthreat Analysis Basics, and Incident Response. The goal was to enhance the interns’ skills and knowledge in cybersecurity and prepare them for better employment opportunities.
In line with its mission to be #EngineeredToDoGood, these partnerships represent only a few of the many initiatives led by Trend Micro aimed at making cybersecurity education more accessible to Filipinos. As a leader in cybersecurity, Trend Micro aims to close the skills gap in the country and to enjoin more Filipinos to have a better understanding and awareness of the cyber attacks and digital threats prevalent in today’s society through knowledge-sharing initiatives and events such as the recently concluded free-for-all conference DECODE.
To learn more about the opportunities at Trend, visit us at the Trend Micro Careers Philippines Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TrendMicroCareersPH.
