From Principles to Practice: Advancing Genomic Data Security in the Philippines

From 6 - 8 July 2026, Health Security Partners brought together 32 participants from key genomic research institutions in the Philippines for a three-day workshop on protecting the sensitive genomic data at the heart of their work. Over three days, participants moved from principles to practice, mapping the cyberbiosecurity threat landscape, applying practical cyber hygiene and data-classification tools grounded in NIST and ISO frameworks, and working through a scenario-based incident response exercise. A recurring theme stood out: safeguarding genomic data is a cross-disciplinary effort, bringing scientists, laboratory staff, and IT together rather than treating it as an IT-only challenge. Our thanks to the participating institutions for their engagement and commitment, and to the trainers at Sention Threat Intelligence for sharing their expertise throughout the three days.