MANILA - Google on Thursday said it is beefing up programs meant to "absorb" bad traffic to protect users from cyber attacks.

Protection from cyber threats has become crucial in light of the increasing number of browser users, Google cybersecurity expert Parisa Tabriz said in a Cybersecurity Awareness virtual briefing. Tabriz is also Google's vice president for Chrome Browser.

The pandemic accelerated the digital transformation of enterprises to ensure employees can work remotely, Tabriz said.

Asia is also the "most attacked region" in 2021 with about 26 percent of global attacks directed to the region, Tabriz said citing studies. Eighty percent of organizations in the Asia Pacific is also impacted by ransomware attacks, she said.

Tabriz also noted that ransomware damage has a "massive impact" which is expected to exceed $30 billion by 2023.

These numbers underscore the importance of cybersecurity and Google is helping users and enterprises use the internet safely with its suite of security programs, Tabriz said.

"Many of us are right now connected in a browser on a web app and it has really underscored how important browser security is both as individuals as well as enterprise organizations," Tabriz said.

What Google is doing to help internet users today

Tabriz said Google has improved its vulnerability reward program that collaborates with hackers to find weak points in a system. Learnings from these programs help improve the current system, she said.

"These reports not only help us fix and improve Google security products but also security on the web and Internet at large because oftentimes these bugs are in open source projects that other products use other services use and so really is helping to secure the Internet together," she said.

Tabriz leads Google's Project Zero, which aims to identify vulnerabilities in the hardware and software system. Project Zero, the Threat Analysis Group and Red Team, among others, were featured in Google’s docuseries called Hacking Google which tackles how its cybersecurity teams protect the platform from threats.

Select organizations, meanwhile, can turn to Project Shield, which is a free defense program for news, human rights organizations and election sites from DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks.

"Project Shield really allows Google to absorb bad traffic...and just act as a shield for much smaller websites. We encourage all eligible organizations to register so that our systems can help block attacks and really leverage kind of the scale of Google to keep critical websites online," she said.

Google also has a program called Google Safe Browsing that protects about 5 billion devices from malware and phishing attacks.

"We've really seen phishing scams rise quite substantially and we're constantly adapting and improving how we can detect attacks in a very dynamic environment," she said.

Lastly, Google said it is collaborating with other partners, researchers, businesses and public institutions, among others, to work and publish research that would be beneficial for many.

In the Philippines, phishing and SMS-linked scams known as smishing have proliferated in recent months.

The government recently enacted the SIM registration law, which requires the registration of all active mobile numbers to curb phishing attacks linked to SMS.

• Google disrupts cybercrime web infecting 1 million devices
• Globe readies system for SIM registration of over 87.4 million customers
• Marcos signs SIM registration law amid proliferation of text scams

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