Last month, the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, or PhilHealth, was attacked by Medusa ransomware that leaked 730GB of sensitive information, which affected 20 million members and employees.
Previously, PhilHealth admitted that their antivirus subscription had expired, leaving them vulnerable. After that, the health insurance corporation spent 14 million pesos for a new anti-virus system.
The health insurance company expects the anti-virus today, October 20, 2023.
According to PhilHealth Acting Senior Manager of the Information Technology and Management Department, Nelson De Vera, the new anti-virus system is good to use for one year.
De Vera is assured that the new anti-virus system is stronger and can definitely protect and defend the insurance corporation. However, De Vera also stressed that this does not mean that hackers will not be able to attack anymore since they are always “one step ahead.”
De Vera also shared during the press briefing that PhilHealth’s approach is to boost security measures and enhance security solutions to reduce the likelihood of such incidents occurring again.
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A discussion on Reddit emerged, questioning whether PhilHealth’s new anti-virus is genuinely costly or if it falls into the category of overpriced products.
A Reddit user commented: “Enterprise level, yes. That’s just 250k USD. I purchase software and file requisitions for way more than that. 250k in enterprise software is peanuts. We pay a vendor 7M USD per year for a SaaS application.”
Also another Reddit user shared their opinion: “The AV is on a different level when it’s an Enterprise account/license, they’re really expensive compared to the ones for personal use. I feel like it’s still not enough, but in my opinion, it’s too little, too late.”
How about you? What do you think about the new anti-virus by PhilHealth? Do you think the price is just right or is it too costly? Let us know!
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