Information and Communication Technology – Davao, Inc. or ICT-Davao, Inc. will now conduct a certification course that will train Data Protection Officers in every firm to ensure that data storages are protected.
In an interview with Atty. Samuel Matunog, ICT-Davao, Inc. President, he said that a five-day DPO Professional Data Privacy Officers certification course will be initiated, as part of the agreements in the recently concluded Livex Innovation Summit last October.
The certification course will be spearheaded by the ICT-Davao, in partnership with the National Association of Data Protection Officers of the Philippines (NADPOP) and the University of Mindanao.
“These will be high-level, hands on training to ensure our DPOs are aware of the legal requirements, standards, at the same time, measures they can do to ensure that data is protected,” Matunog said.
He said that they are targeting an initial batch of 100 Business process outsourcing (BPOs) in Davao City and nearby areas.
The first run is expected to be on the first quarter of 2019.
The move, according to Matunog, is very timely, considering businesses are now gearing towards digital data storages.
Data breeching is considered the rampant problems in the information technology.
Data and cybersecurity breach cases are made by hackers—those who break into computer systems and networks of corporations, governments, and organizations to steal or expose data, or cause problems.
In 2012, Republic Act 10173 or the Data Privacy Act was enacted to ensure that databases are secured from data hijackers.
A total of 57 data breach notifications have been received by the National Privacy Commission (NPC) since January this year, but not all have progressed into an actual investigation by the data privacy body.
In September, NPC reported that more than 700,000 Filipino Facebook users had their personal information compromised, making them likely targets of spam operations and phishing attacks.
ICT-Davao had not received any reports of data breeching in Davao City.
However, he said that these needed to be addressed once it reaches in the city.
“What we need to do is control the internal operations, making sure that we have multiple levels of security measures internally,” Matunog said.
