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Friday, March 29, 2024

NTC tells telcos to block domain links, URLs in text messages

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The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has ordered telecom companies to block domains or Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) in text messages amid rising text spams and scams.

“Telcos are hereby ordered to block or deactivate domains or Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), TinyURLs, Smart Links and/or QR Codes emanating from malicious sites based on existing database culled from government agencies such as the NTC, National Privacy Commission, Department of Trade and Industry, law enforcement agencies, subscriber reports and those generated from machine learning or artificial intelligence,” the regulator said.

The NTC also directed telcos to submit a written report of compliance to the agency on or before September 16, 2022.
Globe Telecom said the NTC’s directive will institutionalize the fight against spam and text fraud.

“Globe has long been blocking spam and scam text messages we detect, including those containing malicious URLs or links. This is part of our ongoing effort to filter out dangerous SMS to protect our customers,” the Ayala-led telco said.

“We will coordinate closely with the NTC to come up with new solutions to further protect customers against online fraud,” it added.

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Globe reiterated its call on all stakeholders to heighten vigilance and take proactive steps to support industry efforts against escalating threats.

Adel Tamano, DITO Telecommunity Chief Administrative Officer, said his company is supporting the initiative of NTC to protect the public from phishing, smishing, “quishing,” and other forms of illegal activities.

“We will comply with the NTC’S directive,” Tamano said.

“Data aggregators” and contact-tracing apps are not the culprit in the ongoing “massive” spam phone messages that have targeted individuals through personalized “smishing” (SMS phishing) operations that include the recipients’ actual names, the National Privacy Commission (NPC) said earlier.

This developed as the Philippine National Police renewed its call to enact a law that would mandate the registration of all SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards, amid the explosion of personalized text scams in the past weeks.

Police Brig. Gen. Joel Doria, director of the PNP ACG, said their initial investigation disclosed that the senders’ numbers are not linked to any social media accounts, messaging apps, and digital wallets.

“This is apparently to avoid identification by law enforcers. We have already conducted social media exploitations and there are numerous possibilities on how scammers get hold of the personal information of the recipients of spam text messages,” said Doria.

He said the data may have been sold and bought in bulk on the “dark web,” where hackers and techies use special software to buy and sel information, which makes the users anonymous and untraceable.

The information may also have been obtained through social medi platforms, websites, and phone directories around the internet.

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