Smart stops cyberattacks with bigger ’21 investment in security

PLDT Inc.’s Smart Communications said major investments in cybersecurity infrastructure paid off as it identified and stopped nearly 300 million cyberattacks in 2021.

Smart said in a statement cybersecurity investments topped P3 billion this year due to growing cases of online fraud, data theft and criminal activities such as the exploitation of minors.

“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,” Angel Redoble, chief information security officer of PLDT and Smart, said in a statement.

Smart’s said its cyberinvestments strengthened the group’s “predictive, detective and responsive capabilities,” helping generate over 200 million cyberthreat intelligence leads.

On top of warding off phishing attacks, PLDT and Smart have also restricted access to 127,000 online child sexual abuse materials.

For 2021 alone, PLDT and Smart already blocked eight billion attempts made by subscribers to access phishing and scamming sites. Morover, the group blocked at least 15,000 mobile numbers related to SMS spam in November.

Redoble PLDT and Smart also conduct regular drills such as the Cyber War Games.

During the games, the cybersecurity unit will “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.”