PLDT Group said Wednesday it invested nearly P3 billion in cybersecurity infrastructure in 2021 to fight emerging cyber threats and vulnerabilities, including online fraud and other criminal activities.
These major investments strengthened the PLDT group’s predictive, detective and responsive capabilities. It acquired more than 200 million cyber threat intelligence information and detecting and preventing close to 300 million combined types of cyber-attacks this year.
Following the recent spate of fraudulent spam messages, PLDT and Smart’s threat intelligence operations were actively identifying malicious domains that trap people who end up victims to fraud.
PLDT and Smart blocked 8 billion attempts this year made by subscribers to access phishing and scamming sites that would have victimized them and also blocked at least 15,000 mobile numbers related to SMS spam in November.
“The safety of our subscribers remains our highest priority. PLDT and Smart will ensure that customers are protected from becoming victims to this targeted and well-organized scam from end-to-end,” said Angel Redoble, chief information security officer of PLDT and Smart.
Aside from warding off phishing attacks, PLDT and Smart also restricted access to 127,000 online child sexual abuse materials and worked closely with local and global partners in the war against online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
To ensure the sustainability of the fortified cybersecurity program, PLDT and Smart started conducting Cyber War Games in 2021, where “we identify different types of sophisticated attacks as well as our existing controls and processes, and we assess if these controls and processes can be retained or must be improved moving forward,” said Redoble.
PLDT and Smart’s cybersecurity leadership extends to the assistance it provides to the Philippine Air Force to improve their capability in cybersecurity operations, including building a Cybersecurity Center for Excellence with the help of PLDT and Smart chairman Manuel Pangilinan.
PLDT and Smart’s expertise in cybersecurity also allowed the two telcos to assist the House of Representatives in revising a law concerning the protection of children particularly from OSAEC, with the use of technology and other cybersecurity capabilities.