Viettel Cyber Security (VCS) marked a major milestone in the Philippine market as it mounted its first-ever professional cybersecurity event, VCS: CTRL Manila 2025 – a conference designed to build community, connect defenders and researchers, and deliver practical, expert-led learning.
Bringing together over 100 cybersecurity experts, CISOs, engineers, and digital risk practitioners from some of the country’s largest enterprises, the summit marked a significant leap in building a stronger, more resilient cybersecurity community in the Philippines. VCS: CTRL Manila 2025 focused on sharing real-world expertise and unpacking the fast-changing threat landscape shaping the region today.
A New Chapter in Cyber Collaboration
With the Philippines advancing rapidly in digital adoption, VCS: CTRL Manila 2025 is designed to spark conversations around one core idea, and that is true resilience is built when defenders understand attackers and attackers push defenders to evolve. This philosophy guided the program from foundational insights to advanced offensive research.
The summit featured a structured learning pathway curated for professionals across different seniority levels. Participants gained access to Blue Team (Defense) sessions, Red Team (Attack) sessions, as well as live discussions and expert panels that provided case-based analysis. The format allowed attendees to gradually build their understanding of threats, attacker behavior, and real-world defense strategies through practical scenarios.
Inside the Sessions: Offense vs. Defense
The Blue Team track opened with a grounded look at the latest cybersecurity trends shaping the Philippine landscape, led by VCS Threat Analysts Long and Kiên. Drawing from VCS’s continuous monitoring operations, they walked participants through the most active threats targeting local organizations and offered an early peek into insights slated for the upcoming Q4 Cyber Threat Report. This was followed by Henry, Country Service Manager of VCS Philippines, who walked guests through a real ransomware attack in detail – from initial access to movements across systems. This session highlighted persistent gaps in cyber readiness, the difficulty of spotting intrusions early, and the critical importance of coordinated response efforts.
Participants responded positively to the session’s practical, scenario-based approach. One attendee shared that the walkthrough “finally connected the dots on how attackers move inside a network,” adding that the combination of data and real-case analysis and end-to-end ransomware demonstration revealed detection gaps that “you don’t uncover through theory alone.”
Meanwhile, the Red Team session, led by special guest speaker Duong Doan, Senior Web Security Researcher and Pwn2Own Champion, marked one of the key highlights of the event. For the first time, VCS publicly unveiled its discovery of a vulnerability in the end-to-end encrypted messaging function of Meta’s Messenger application – a finding that enabled the platform to immediately implement the necessary patch and prevent potential exploitation. The session showed how offensive research can play a decisive role in strengthening large-scale systems, further cementing VCS’ capability to uncover vulnerabilities and contribute to safer digital ecosystems.
Toward a Stronger Cyber Community
The Philippines has shown strong interest in initiatives that help build and strengthen its cybersecurity community, yet large-scale gatherings remain limited. In this context, VCS: CTRL Manila 2025 stood out as one of the few events capable of bringing practitioners, experts, and enthusiasts together under one roof. The event also highlighted VCS’s ability to combine global expertise, localized threat intelligence, and practical training for both Red and Blue Teams. More than a technical conference, it served as a meaningful platform for reinforcing collaboration and elevating the country’s cybersecurity community.
The program also featured leading Filipino cybersecurity experts, including Robin “Japz” Divino — a globally recognized bug bounty researcher credited with identifying vulnerabilities for platforms such as Facebook, Microsoft, and PayPal — and Jay Turla, a principal researcher known for pioneering automotive and IoT security work in the Philippines and organizing the country’s Car Hacking Village.
Filipino cybersecurity experts Robin “Japz” Divino (left), and Jay Turla (right) on cybersecurity in the Philippines
One local speaker noted that the event was “a rare space for the Philippines’ security community to come together,” emphasizing that opportunities to exchange real-world experiences with experts who confront these threats daily are still uncommon in the country. He added that the combination of defensive and offensive insights “set a new benchmark for how collaborative and practice-driven cybersecurity learning should be in the Philippines.”
With cyber threats in the region continuing to rise in scale and sophistication, VCS emphasized that VCS: CTRL Manila 2025 is only the beginning. The company plans to roll out a series of in-depth sharing sessions in the near future – covering practical methodologies, real-world case studies, and specialized Red and Blue Team knowledge. These ongoing initiatives aim to help build a stronger cybersecurity community in the Philippines, enhance the capabilities of local cybersecurity professionals, and strengthen the country’s overall cyber resilience. By doing so, VCS hopes to support Philippine enterprises in becoming more prepared, more adaptive, and better equipped to withstand evolving cyber threats.
