Leading cybersecurity company Trend Micro recently concluded its annual free-for-all cybersecurity conference DECODE 2025: Maximize Momentum. Now in its ninth year, DECODE 2025 was attended by over 600 cybersecurity professionals and featured a variety of talks led by local and global industry experts, hands-on activities, and engaging demonstrations highlighting the current state of the cybersecurity landscape.
“This year, we found it important to emphasize proactive cybersecurity amidst the escalation of AI-assisted threats. Through DECODE, we are able to share our research on the various threats and landscape with fellow industry professionals and experts, so that businesses and individuals alike can learn how to best protect themselves,” shared Alma Saturnino-Alvarez, Trend Micro’s Director for Threat Research and founder of DECODE.
This year’s conference zeroed in on prevalent AI-backed cybercrime attacks as well as agentic AI, automotive cybersecurity, and what local law enforcement is doing to improve the Philippines’ cyber posture. From over 22 different talks and sessions led by senior Trend Micro researchers and partner law enforcement experts, DECODE 2025 shed light on the most pressing issues concerning the cybersecurity landscape today.
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| Plenary Panelists (L-R): Robert McArdle, Jay Yaneza, PBGen Bernard Yang, and Dr. Neal Jetton |
On AI-backed cybercrimes in today’s digital age
With its widespread availability and ease of use, people are becoming more trusting of generative AI and AI-based applications. This accessibility comes with a number of risks for users, such as deepfakes through image and audio manipulation, and more complex online scams through generated storylines and contextualized requests. A key topic throughout the event’s various panels and discussions, experts highlighted how these emerging AI technologies require a more proactive approach to cybersecurity in order to remain resilient and maintain a robust defense against AI-backed threats.
During the keynote speech, David Sancho, Senior Threat Researcher at Trend Micro, shared the three main risks professionals and everyday citizens should be mindful of as more and more people become reliant on AI. In people allowing AI to ‘think’ for them, there is an erosion of skills, job opportunities, and ultimately, trust. Younger generations are finding it increasingly difficult to write independently due to increased dependence on AI technology, and simultaneously, companies and organizations are exchanging human manpower for AI systems and tools, taking away opportunities from capable individuals.
Out of the three risks, the third and most pressing, according to Sancho, is the erosion of trust. From fake news articles to realistic videos that feature non-existent events, paired with the prevalence of social media, it has become increasingly difficult for everyday citizens to differentiate the real from the AI. These risks of generative AI are, therefore, what professionals and everyday people must keep in mind to better understand and regulate the negative effects of these new technologies.
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| L-R: Locknote Speaker Ryan Flores and track session speakers Christian Nava, Sean Park, Morton Swimmer, and Fyodor Yarochkin |
From defense to resilience: how Philippine law enforcement is gearing up
In a dedicated session entitled Cyber Warfare Is Cyber Resilience: Maximizing Operational Momentum in the Philippine Army, LtCol. Rod Quinto of the Philippine Army shared the force’s roadmap to further strengthen the country’s cybercrime defense from threat actors and the evolving local threat landscape. The Philippine Army is shifting its approach to cybersecurity from perimeter defense to operational resilience. This focuses on priming the force according to three key pillars: proactive preparation, actionable threat intelligence, and strategic response planning. “Cyber resilience isn’t about preventing every attack — it’s about maintaining mission effectiveness despite the attack,” stressed LtCol. Quinto.
To achieve cyber resilience, LtCol. Quinto stressed the value of collaborative defense, highlighting how the fight against cybercrime should be a collective effort from both the private and public sectors. “Our strongest defense is the unity of effort across all domains and sectors,” he shared.
While there are a number of countermeasures and new technologies being established globally to combat the various threats organizations and individuals face every day, a key point underlined by the experts throughout DECODE 2025 is the importance of cybersecurity education and knowledge-sharing as the ultimate protection from cyberattacks. Through initiatives such as DECODE, Trend Micro hopes to encourage more individuals to invest in their cybersecurity and to be mindful of the many threats posed by the technology we utilize in our daily lives.
DECODE 2025: Maximize Momentum is only one initiative under Trend Micro’s mission statement of being #EngineeredToDoGood. To access free resources and more information about cybersecurity for professionals and non-professionals alike, visit Trend Micro’s official website www.trendmicro.com, and its official Facebook Page.
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