Manila takes the spotlight this November as Viettel Cyber Security (VCS) — the cybersecurity arm of Viettel Group, one of Asia’s largest telecommunications companies — partners with ROOTCON for “VCS: CTRL Manila.” Happening on November 19, 2025, the event will gather cybersecurity professionals, thought leaders, and tech enthusiasts from across the region to share insights and push the boundaries of digital defense.
A New Cyber Frontier: Offense Meets Defense
As organizations advance in their digital transformation journeys, cyber threats are approaching just as fast. The VCS: CTRL Manila 2025 summit aims to open the discussion about how collaborations between ethical hackers and defenders can help organizations stay one step ahead of more complex and adaptive cyber threats.
VCS: CTRL Manila is expected to gather over 100 participants from the Philippines and other neighboring countries for the summit.
The program is structured into four focused tracks:
1. In-Depth Talks – The summit will open with a series of discussions examining Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) cases, Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) operations, bug bounty exploits, and blue team defenses. Practitioners will share examples and tactical lessons drawn from real-world investigations.
2. Expert Networking – Guests will have the chance to engage with red and blue team professionals face-to-face. This segment aims to enable participants to build networks with peers across Southeast Asia.
3. Interactive Q&A Sessions – This track will mainly be a discussion of real-world challenges with threat hunters, detection engineers, and incident responders. Instead of focusing on theory, these sessions will tackle practical problems faced in the field — sharing how experts identify, respond to, and overcome threats in real situations.
4. Applied Insights – The final track will focus on breach case studies, detection modeling, and preventive strategies. Speakers will outline how coordinated response and adaptive defense mechanisms can reduce risks and strengthen an organization’s overall cybersecurity measure
Strategic insights, real-world case studies, and live technical demonstrations will be combined, helping participants equip themselves with both the perspective and practical tools to strengthen their security posture.
Voices from Both Sides of the Battlefield
The summit will feature five cybersecurity experts who will lend their regional expertise in both offensive and defensive operations.
1. Inside Messenger’s E2EE: Architecture and Security Insights
Duong Doan – Senior Web Security Researcher, Pwn2Own Winner, Microsoft MVR
2. Ransomware-as-a-Service: A Real Case Study
Henry Nguyen – Country Service Manager, Philippines
3. APT TA-SC-31 Exploits Trusted Websites to Launch Targeted Cyberattacks & Mustang Panda’s Evolving Arsenal
Kien Nguyen Duc & Long Doan Minh – Threat Analysts, Viettel Cyber Security
4. The Human Side of Hacking: Stories from Those Who Break to Protect
Japz Divino – Principal Security Researcher, Viking Cloud
5. How AI and Fuzzing Are Transforming Automotive Security
Jay Turla – Principal Security Researcher, VicOne
The program is structured to accommodate both Blue Team (defensive) and Red Team (offensive) professionals, with content progressing from fundamental to advanced topics.
Not only covering updates on the Philippine cybersecurity landscape and a detailed ransomware case study, the summit will also feature an advanced discussion on end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in Meta’s messaging applications, highlighting new discoveries that could potentially compromise user data and privacy.
Building a Stronger Cyber Community
“Technology can automate detection, but only human intuition can predict intent,” said Mr. Thomas Van Duc Luu, Country Manager, Viettel Cyber Security Philippines.
He emphasized that behind every effective cybersecurity system are people — analysts, engineers, and ethical hackers — whose collaboration strengthens the collective defense of the region.
By hosting VCS: CTRL Manila, VCS reinforces its commitment to nurturing this community of experts, with the belief that shared knowledge is essential to creating a lasting impact on Southeast Asia’s cybersecurity scene.
VCS: CTRL Manila will be held on November 19, 2025, in Manila.
For registration, please visit: https://services.viettelcybersecurity.com/vcs-ctrl-manilatalk