Cyber Risk Ratings Are Coming to the Philippines: Will Your Company Be Considered 'High Risk'?

In global markets, cyber risk ratings are fast becoming a standard metric—used by insurers, investors, lenders, and procurement teams to assess whether an organization is secure enough to do business with. In the Philippines, this trend is about to take hold. The question for local businesses: If your cyber posture were scored like a credit rating, where would you stand?

What Are Cyber Risk Ratings?

Cyber risk rating platforms such as SecurityScorecard, BitSight, and UpGuard continuously scan companies' digital footprints and assign them a security grade (often A-F). These platforms evaluate external-facing infrastructure, open ports, exposed credentials, patching cadence, DNS hygiene, endpoint telemetry, and more.

Your rating is publicly accessible—and increasingly used by:

• Insurers setting cyber insurance premiums.

• Banks evaluating loan risk.

• Multinationals vetting Philippine vendors.

• Investors screening for resilient portfolio companies.

Why Filipino Executives Should Care Now

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and National Privacy Commission (NPC) have begun aligning with global norms on cyber accountability. In the private sector, we're already seeing:

• Philippine banks requiring third-party vendors to provide cyber due diligence reports.

• Logistics firms denying contracts based on low cyber ratings.

• BPOs losing clients after being flagged as vulnerable.

Once foreign partners start checking your cyber rating, it becomes a reputational and operational issue—not just an IT one.

Common Reasons for a Low Cyber Risk Score

• Outdated software and unpatched systems visible online.

• Weak or misconfigured DNS and email records (e.g., missing SPF/DKIM).

• Previously leaked credentials found on dark web forums.

• Unsecured cloud assets like S3 buckets or exposed databases.

Worse, many companies don’t even know they have a poor cyber risk score until a client, partner, or auditor brings it up.

How to Improve Your Company’s Rating

1. Run a Third-Party Scan on Yourself Use tools like BitSight or SecurityScorecard to see how your company is being scored externally.

2. Prioritize External Hygiene Fix exposed ports, outdated systems, and expired certificates. These are quick wins that materially affect your grade.

3. Perform a Credential Leak Audit Scan for breached emails/passwords associated with your domain. Enforce password resets and MFA.

4. Conduct a Comprehensive VA/PT Regular vulnerability assessments and penetration tests ensure that known issues are identified and mitigated proactively.

5. Institute Cyber Governance Policies Have a formal, documented cybersecurity policy, including vendor risk management, acceptable use, and incident response procedures.

   
   

The Executive Takeaway

If you're a CEO, CFO, or board member in the Philippines, your company’s cyber risk rating could soon influence:

• Financing terms from local and international lenders.

• Your insurability and premiums for cyber liability coverage.

• Your eligibility as a vendor to top-tier clients.

• Your brand reputation in an increasingly competitive digital economy.

In short: your security posture is now a business enabler—or a liability.

Final Thought: You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure

Cyber risk ratings are your digital reputation scorecard. If you’re not proactively managing it, someone else is doing it for you—and you may not like the results.

At VEKTOR, we help businesses monitor and improve their cyber risk ratings through tailored remediation, threat intelligence, and compliance support. If you'd like to know your score—and how to raise it—contact us today.