As a Cyber Security Practitioner, I am adopting cyberarnis as my Internet pseudonym for the reason that anybody who sees it will assume the author and wielder of the weapon is a Filipino.

Arnis is a martial arts and national sport of the Philippines. It is also known as Eskrima and Kali. Eskrima means skirmish or parrying strikes/attacks; while kali stands for the moro sword “kalis”, which is intended for hacking quarries.

“Handa dala, Kalis, Saksak!” haha this is the parading troop commander’s voice that kept on resonating in my mind when I was still a cadet in the military academy. However, the command “Saksak” here means the sheathing of the kalis sword back to its scabbard, not for stabbing the enemy.

And now, there are writings on the wall of a prevailing danger of a cyberwar outbreak. From defacing of websites, hackers now are moving on breaching databanks (Remember the Comelec and Bangladesh National Bank incidents). Soon, hackers will do something devastating like tinkling of power grid lines. The Department of National Defense is taking the lead in building up the defensive posture – ESKRIMA! In the offensive stance, KALIS is still in its sheath, never intended to be drawn “nakasaksak lang”. However like in any other warfare (land, sea and air) where DND is in-charge, the country has to be prepared inside the cyberspace to let enemy hackers understand the true sense of the word SAKSAK when they try penetrating our boundaries …