Benildeans First to Square Up for Cybersecurity

A recent article by SunStar Publishing Inc. revealed that the Philippines is suffering from a scarcity of cybersecurity professionals, as stated by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). “Singapore has about 2,000 cybersecurity professionals, and the Philippines has about 200. And of the 200, 80 percent of those are working abroad,” said DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy in the same article mentioned. 

Globally, the International Information System Security Certification Consortium, Inc. (ISC2), the world’s leading member association for cybersecurity professionals, states, “The workforce gap continues to grow even faster: The gap grew by 13% from 2022, which means that in 2023 there are roughly four million cybersecurity professionals needed.” 

Benidle’s Cybersecurity program is a three-year and one-term course. Students are encouraged to join CTFs or Capture the Flag competitions, which serve as hackathons but for cybersecurity. As part of their student life, the pioneer batch looks forward to creating their student organization and serving as mentors for incoming new batches. As of this writing, the third batch is coming in, and the first group of graduates for the program will graduate in late 2025 or early 2026. The Cybersecurity program started with 18 students in batch one and 57 students in batch two, with Benilde looking forward to 120 enrollees by the third.

Que says the program is prepared in terms of faculty members. “All faculty are industry practitioners. Some have a master’s degree in information security from MSU (Michigan State University), and most work in the industry. And since we’re the first school that offers that, there’s no competition in securing faculty resources for now.” The current roster is nothing less than impressive, with Que leading the list not only as Industry Coordinator but as President and CEO of SQrity Consulting; Justin Pineda, CEO of PinedaCybersecurity; Atty. Krishna Aira Tana-Caguia, Data Privacy Consultant, Kat-C; Keinaz Domingo, Section Head, Cybersecurity for NGCP; Christian Villapando, Consultant Security, Verizon; Mark Despi, CISO of BSP; Jason Brasileño, Head, Fraud, Gotyme Bank; Rei Nikolai Magnaye, CISO of Equitable Savings Bank; John Ang, Principal Consultant, GrayBox Security; and John Paul Richard Alarcon, CISO of HSBC.

The Cybersecurity program faculty members are certified and earn these certificates from the industry. That’s the level of expertise that is also expected of future graduates. In the field, certifications are essential. The curriculum is designed to have elective courses that serve as the students’ certification series. They are allowed to take this outside of the College’s laboratories if needed. In the current market, cybersecurity professionals are certified professionals without the benefit of a cybersecurity bachelor’s education with foundation and fundamentals. That is the edge Benilde graduates will have. They have a complete background and are the first in the industry. Therefore, they are very much in demand. 

Benilde hopes that other educational institutions will follow suit. “It’s just that we were early and benefit from making more mistakes than others. I think that’s always the DNA of Benilde. We encourage other schools because of the gap. We need to produce three million,” Que reveals, which mirrors the ISC2 2022 study. “The good thing is, when we start sending cybersecurity (graduates), we don’t send them out. They stay here in the Philippines, but they can work outside. The globe is their playground when they graduate because of the NIST-based standard curriculum design of the program. They are at par with any global school that offers cybersecurity.” 

Since a global curriculum is designed as the basis for the current program, other future subjects can be expanded on, including Cloud security, IoT security, emerging technology security, and quantum security. These are the new wave of disruptions, and industry professionals learn by attending conferences abroad. In line with this trend, Benilde plans to partner with more international schools to strengthen the program. The priority is to give the closest education to a real-life cybersecurity environment and encourage graduates to contribute through research and application work. 

What also makes Benilde’s Cybersecurity program different, apart from it being up to global standards, is the Benildean Community’s way of life inspired by the seven Benildean Expressions of the Lasallian Core Values: God-centered, with integrity, socially responsible, creative and innovative, appreciative of individual worth, professionally excellent, and one with the plight of the poor. This integration is carried through many formation programs in Benilde, especially those spearheaded by the Center for Lasallian Ministry, Center for Social Action, and Center for Restorative Discipline.

The goal is to produce well-rounded graduates who possess technical expertise and adhere to a moral framework, ensuring they use their skills for positive contributions to society. “When you have a cybersecurity program embedded in a Catholic school, it’s a good combination,” Que explains. “It’s not just religion but values and ethics. Because the students will be trained well, they will be very good at hacking, but we don’t want them to cross to the dark side. We want them to be defenders. We need more people to be part of the good army. We also want to be able to fill the cybersecurity gap in our government. They have not defined a plantilla for a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) or a security officer. Civil service only has data privacy officers or programmers, which are different posts altogether. Our graduates will be the next leaders in the industry, so they have to lead the way.” Benilde provides a cybersecurity education like no other, poised to significantly impact the professional landscape and contribute to the nation’s cybersecurity resilience.

For more information on Benilde’s undergraduate programs, contact us at (63) 2 8230 5100 local 1801 or admissions@benilde.edu.ph. You may also visit our website at www.benilde.edu.ph.