PLDT, Smart block more than 5 million malicious text messages in February

PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) prevented more than 5 million SMShing messages from reaching customers in the second month of the year. PLDT and Smart’s Cyber Security Operations Group (CSOG) also blocked more than 38,000 mobile numbers found to have been involved in fraudulent activities.

“As we double efforts to register our mobile subscribers, we are also working 24/7 to stop malicious messages from passing through our network. We work closely with SMS aggregators and financial institutions to immediately prevent text scams from spreading to mobile users in the country,” said Angel Redoble, FVP and Chief Information Security Officer at PLDT and Smart.

There’s also been no letup in PLDT and Smart’s efforts to protect customers from phishing and other malicious online activities. CSOG stopped more than 1.4 billion attempts to open malicious domains in the second month of the year. More than 200,000 of these were attempts to visit URLs and content related to online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC).

The PLDT Group’s pioneering Child Protection Platform remains hard at work blocking child sexual abuse and exploitation materials (CSAEM) online. PLDT and Smart’s memberships into the UK-based Internet Watch Foundation and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s Project Arachnid have expanded the capacity of the PLDT Group’s organically developed CSAEM blocking tool.

The PLDT group also more than doubled its efforts to protect its digital infrastructure, thwarting 83 million cyber-attacks and attempts to breach its network in February.

If you receive a dubious or malicious text message, take a screenshot, and send it to cybersecurityincidents@smart.com.ph. You can likewise report other cybersecurity matters like phishing, vishing, and malicious domains though this channel.

The efforts of PLDT and Smart to detect and block malicious messages, including SIMs and websites tied to fraudulent activities, are fundamental to the PLDT Group’s much broader program to elevate the quality of customer experience by protecting them from threats and cyber-attacks.

PLDT and Smart’s initiatives to protect children online underscore the Group’s long-term commitment to help the country attain UN Sustainable Development Goal No. 16 which promotes just, peaceful and inclusive societies including the end to abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children. ##