The Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC), in partnership with Microsoft Philippines, is spearheading cybersecurity advances with other government agencies in an effort to increase administrative productivity, data security, and transparency.
With the recent spate of cybercrimes launched against government agencies that has eroded public trust in them, BOC in a statement said it is instituting information communication technology (ICT) reforms “to establish the highest data integrity assurance levels,” making the bureau the first government agency to “implement a comprehensive cybersecurity program in less than year.”
Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina pointed out that BOC inter-operates with no less than 60 trade regulatory agencies, and the security risks rise exponentially the greater the number of interconnections, data, or files it shares with other agencies.
“This information is the lifeblood of our country’s trade facilitation and the current trend of cybersecurity threat knows no boundaries. We have and will continue to invest in a robust security environment,” Lina said.
He further added that as an executive coming from the private sector, “I understand the strategic advantage of securing necessary IT fortifications to safeguard our enterprise from relentless cybercriminals.”
Lina said BOC stays “committed to terminate alleged controversies and corruption within our agency, and adopting a world-class technology in establishing the highest data integrity assurance level is the first step.”
Microsoft Philippines general manager Karrie Ilagan said that to expedite the modernization of BOC’s systems and digitization of its services, the firm has presented a two-pronged action plan: infrastructure re-engineering through end-to-end ICT solutions, and integrating cybersecurity into the bureau’s foundations.
Early this year, BOC introduced six projects intended to equip the bureau with robust IT systems and solutions “to enhance and secure the services it is mandated to provide its stakeholders.” This move, it added, is aligned with the national government’s push to facilitate trade, while enhancing the profiling and decision-support capabilities of its regulatory, intelligence, and law enforcement units.
The agency plans to implement the projects on June 1.
Image courtesy of hin255 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
