In a bid to improve water quality management, the dialogue explores the implementation of advanced monitoring systems, focusing on real-time tracking of contaminants such as iron and manganese with Chriselle Alejandro, president of Balibago Water Works. By transitioning from reactive to proactive strategies, water treatment facilities can optimize operations, leading to significant efficiency gains and cost savings. Partnerships with technology providers like Apprium and Everbridge are crucial for this digital transformation, paving the way for future innovations aimed at addressing environmental challenges while ensuring safe and reliable water delivery to communities in the Philippines and beyond.

Key takeaways

Challenges in Water Treatment: The water treatment industry in the Philippines faces significant challenges, particularly with unpredictable groundwater quality issues related to high levels of iron and manganese, resulting in customer complaints.

Proactive Monitoring Solutions: Implementing advanced monitoring systems allows for real-time tracking of water quality, enabling water treatment operations to adjust proactively rather than reactively, ultimately reducing customer complaints and enhancing service delivery.

Efficiency and Cost Savings: By understanding contaminant levels from the source, water treatment plants can optimize their processes, leading to energy savings, reduced treatment times, and increased water output, thereby improving operational efficiency and profitability.

Automation and Digital Transformation: Future steps include automating response systems and consolidating operations into a centralized command center to enhance oversight and risk management in the face of environmental challenges such as floods and heavy storms.

Strategic Partnerships: Collaborations with companies like Apprium and Everbridge are pivotal in leveraging technological expertise to drive the digital transformation journey in the water treatment sector, allowing for the expansion of these solutions beyond the Philippines to Southeast Asia and beyond.

By Lorenzo Marchetti, Everbridge Head of Global Public Affairs

The security landscape in Europe has changed dramatically, presenting an evolving array of threats. While traditional terrorism remains a significant concern, new technological threats and hybrid attacks are increasingly targeting critical infrastructure across the continent. These challenges underscore the urgency of advanced preparedness strategies, making solutions like Everbridge essential.

The ongoing threat of terrorism in Europe

Terrorism threats continue to be a persistent issue in Europe due to its evolving tactics. Despite extensive counterterrorism efforts, both state and non-state actors pose ongoing threats. Attackers are becoming more sophisticated, utilizing advanced methods to disrupt societies and economies. Recent reports from the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) highlighted that there were over 200 reported terrorist incidents in 2023, with an alarming 45% attributed to far-right extremist groups. This trend signals a shift towards ideologically motivated violence, and attacks, such as the Nord Stream pipeline incident in 2022, reveal the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure across Europe.

Emerging technological threats and hybrid attacks

In addition to traditional terrorism, Europe is facing an increasing number of technological threats that are equally, if not more, dangerous. Cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure, disinformation campaigns, and hybrid attacks that blend physical and cyber elements present significant risks to European security.

The rise of technological and hybrid threats

Technological threats, especially cyberattacks, have surged in recent years. These attacks are increasingly frequent and damaging, targeting critical enterprises to cripple operations, steal sensitive data, and cause widespread disruption. The hybrid nature of these attacks—combining cyber tactics with physical actions—poses unique challenges for defenders.

Key insights on cybersecurity attacks

In today’s digital world, understanding and addressing cybersecurity threats is vital for protecting your assets. Data reveals a troubling rise in the frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks. According to the European Cybersecurity Agency (ENISA), reported cyber incidents targeting critical enterprises in Europe soared by over 50% from 2020 to 2022. Ransomware attacks surged by 45%, heavily impacting sectors such as healthcare, finance, and energy. A report from 2021 indicated that over 80% of businesses in Europe encountered some form of cyberattack, with 30% classified as severe, leading to significant operational disruptions. The 2023 Cyberthreat Report also highlighted that state-sponsored actors are increasingly focusing on European countries, emphasizing disruption and espionage.

By staying informed and prepared, implementing critical resilience solutions, organizations can better protect themselves against the shifting landscape of security threats in Europe. Implementing robust cybersecurity measures and preparedness strategies is crucial for safeguarding critical infrastructure against both traditional and emerging threats.

Elevate your cyber and physical preparedness with Everbridge

In today’s complex threat landscape, European enterprises face a myriad of challenges that demand comprehensive solutions to strengthen their resilience. Enter Everbridge and its innovative Everbridge 360 Solution—an all-in-one suite of tools designed to fortify both cyber and physical preparedness. Let’s dive into how Everbridge can transform your organization’s security strategy.

Stay ahead with real-time risk monitoring

Everbridge provides continuous, real-time risk monitoring, empowering organizations to swiftly identify and assess threats. This proactive approach is crucial in preventing disruptions from terror attacks, hybrid threats, and other risks. Over three years, our strategy has helped clients avoid inventory and property damages, saving an impressive $1.1 million.

Before adopting our Crisis Event Management (CEM) system, teams often relied on manual processes to identify vulnerable locations. Everbridge’s CEM harnesses diverse data sets with an intuitive user interface, enabling rapid identification of potential threats and prompt alerts to the relevant personnel.

Accelerate response with automated incident workflows

Streamline your response with Everbridge’s automated incident response workflows. By automating critical processes, organizations can act swiftly, reducing incident management time and minimizing impacts—potentially saving up to $3 million over three years. Our robust communication tools ensure timely information dissemination, preserving operational continuity even during crises.

Everbridge also integrates physical security measures with cyber strategies, monitoring access points and coordinating responses to threats. This holistic approach not only enhances safety but also recovers employee productivity, translating to $861,000 in savings over three years. With Everbridge CEM, companies can effectively monitor threats, dispatch automated alerts, and reclaim lost time, boosting overall resilience.

Benefit from detailed reporting capabilities

Everbridge’s detailed reporting features allow organizations to meet regulatory requirements by documenting every phase of an incident, from detection to resolution. This comprehensive record is crucial for regulatory compliance and post-incident analysis, enabling continuous improvement in security practices through accurate reporting.

Seamless integration with cybersecurity frameworks

Everbridge integrates effortlessly with your existing cybersecurity tools and frameworks, including SIEM systems and threat intelligence platforms. This unified approach to threat detection and response enhances overall cyber resilience by maximizing your existing cybersecurity investments. Everbridge’s ability to work within established systems makes it a versatile ally in any security strategy.

Everbridge 360: The only complete end-to-end solution for empowering resilience

As European enterprises grapple with traditional and emerging threats, the importance of robust enterprise security measures has never been clearer.

Everbridge empowers organizations with a comprehensive suite of solutions designed to elevate both cyber and physical resilience. Our platform offers real-time risk monitoring, automated incident workflows, advanced communication tools, detailed reporting, and seamless integration with existing cybersecurity frameworks.

Everbridge solutions can support an organization’s EU compliance activity, such as the Critical Entities Resilience Directive (CER), Network and Information Security Directive 2 (NIS2), Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) to nurture a culture of preparedness and resilience.

For Chief Security Officers, corporate security managers, emergency management professionals, and key stakeholders, Everbridge is a valued partner to navigate evolving security challenges.

Ready to enhance your organization’s security posture? Register for our webinar Terrorism and Technological Threats to Critical Enterprises: the Role of Everbridge on August 29^th at 2:30 PM

From compliance to resilience: Navigating the new landscape of critical infrastructure protection with Everbridge

By Eric Boger, Everbridge Vice President Risk Intelligence

The recent National Security Memorandum (NSM) on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience issued by the White House on April 30, 2024, outlines a strategic approach to safeguarding critical infrastructure against emerging threats and enhancing resilience.  

This NSM updates an 11-year-old presidential policy that underscores the importance of collaboration between US government agencies and private sector partners. It emphasizes a shared responsibility in mitigating risks and ensuring uninterrupted delivery of essential services, renewing the focus on protecting infrastructure assets. 

With Everbridge, your organization can leverage an advanced risk management and communication platform to support the objectives outlined in the NSM.  Providing real-time monitoring, automated alerting, and robust incident response capabilities, our solutions enable you to effectively identify and address potential threats, coordinate response efforts, and communicate crucial information during emergencies.

According to the NSM, “Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial regulatory and oversight entities have a responsibility to prioritize establishing and implementing minimum requirements for risk management, including those requirements that address sector-specific and cross-sector risks.” Everbridge critical event management (CEM) solutions provide minimum requirements and beyond for your organization to be compliant with policies and enhance your security and resilience. 

Supporting critical infrastructure security and protection requirements 

Everbridge can help in proactively planning your organization’s or agency’s risk mitigation strategy by: 

Alignment with regulatory changes 

• The White House emphasis on establishing “minimum security and resilience requirements” within critical infrastructure sectors calls for a structured approach to compliance. Everbridge solutions are designed to adapt to regulatory changes, providing frameworks that help your organization meet new compliance demands efficiently. By leveraging Everbridge, your business, organization, or agency can ensure you are not only compliant with current regulations, but are also prepared for future amendments. 

Facilitating public-private collaboration 

• The updated national security memorandum encourages an increased collaboration between public and private sectors. The Everbridge platform facilitates this interaction by enabling the sharing of critical threat data and response strategies, aligning with the government’s directive to foster a robust information-sharing environment. 

Enhancing resilience through integration 

• In the wake of warnings about potential disruptions, resilience becomes a cornerstone of national security. Everbridge provides comprehensive and integrated risk management solutions, ensuring that your organization or agency can maintain operations even when critical events occur.  
• The integration of Everbridge with agencies and government partners also strengthens the collective defense posture against evolving cyber and physical threats. By facilitating seamless information sharing and collaboration, Everbridge enhances situational awareness and enables proactive risk mitigation across the critical infrastructure landscape. 

Everbridge provides a risk-based approach that enables you to anticipate, mitigate, respond to, and recover from critical events. Everbridge serves customers across public and private sectors, including transportation, energy, infrastructure, health care, government and federal agencies, among others. 

The Everbridge platform supports the implementation of the NSM’s critical infrastructure protection and security directives by providing innovative solutions that bolster the security, resilience, and continuity of critical infrastructure assets nationwide. 

Learn how Everbridge can support your organization or agency.