The PLDT Group vowed to work closely with the Armed Forces of the Philippines to bolster the country’s cybersecurity infrastructure against attacks, including those believed to be state-sponsored.
PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications chairman Manuel Pangilinan said during the Philippine Air Force’s Castle Siege 2 cybersecurity exercise that cybersecurity stakeholders should establish and improve communication lines.
“Whether it’s sharing threat intelligence, best practices, joint simulation exercises, we need to come together in order to protect our shared cyberspace together. The quality of attacks has leveled up in sophistication,” Pangilinan said.
The Philippines is now being bombarded with cyber-attacks daily. PLDT said that in the first half of the year, the group thwarted more than 5.5 billion cyber-attacks and attempts to breach its digital network.
Pangilinan underscored the importance of upskilling cyber warriors. “Plans and strategies work best if we have the right teams and the right personnel to back these up. We need to bolster the ranks of our cyber warriors,” he said.
Meanwhile, GCash, the mobile wallet of Globe Telecom, lauded the successful operations of the Department of Justice, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group against cybercriminals.
“GCash is supportive of the operations of the DOJ, NBI and PNP-ACG in going after perpetrators. We are an active partner of our law enforcement agencies as we exchange technical knowledge and expertise on the latest cybersecurity measures,” said Atty. Maria Corazon Alvarez-Adriano, chief legal officer of GCash.
The DOJ, NBI and PNP-ACG conducted a series of raids and arrests of alleged cybercriminals in the past months. They arrested suspected perpetrators of various crimes like love scams and task scams and confiscated SIM cards purportedly used for dubious purposes.
The authorities are working on the arrest of the suspects linked to the illegal operations– a big win in the shared fight against scammers, fraudsters and other cybercriminals.
GCash is also pushing for the passage of a bill that would criminalize the buying and selling of so-called mule accounts which are used by criminals to hide their identities when transferring illicit money.
GCash continues to invest in best-in-class security technologies and innovations. It recently reached 100-percent rollout for industry-first security feature, DoubleSafe, to ensure that the person accessing an account is the same as the one who registered in GCash by using face ID technology.
“With the DoubleSafe Face ID feature, even if the users inadvertently give out their MPIN or OTP, their account cannot be accessed from a new device without scanning the owner’s face,” said Miguel Geronilla, GCash’s chief information security officer.
GCash remains steadfast in educating its customers and the general public on how they can better protect themselves from scammers.
Through educational materials under the GSafeTayo campaign, GCash encourages users to be wary of Phishing sites and links that spoof official portals of financial institutions and online shopping websites.
Customers are also advised to transact only through GCash’s official channels and remember that it will never send personal messages to address concerns or ask for users’ MPIN, OTP or other personal information.