With majority of Filipinos still vulnerable to cyberthreats, PLDT is reaffirming its commitment to invest in protecting Filipinos against phishing.

"Phishing is still a big problem in the Philippines. While a few of us may have gotten better in preventing ourselves from becoming victims of phishing, majority of people in our community still cannot spot phishing techniques," said Angel T. Redoble, PLDT and Smart Chief Information Security Officer, adding that phishing has continued victimizing the vulnerable sector of the community, including parents and children who use the internet for their daily activities.

Redoble emphasized the importance of investing in technology that can protect people from attacks. "Attacks against consumers and individual users have likewise gone up. If you have data or information in your device, you have everything that a scammer wants, because somebody is always buying information on the dark web. Everybody is now a target, but not everybody is protected," he said. "As a telco, we at PLDT have the power to improve drastically the cybersecurity posture of the country."

"That is the vision of PLDT and Smart -- after we secure ourselves, we should secure the community. We extend that capability, not just to enterprises, but to individuals as well," he said.

Redoble said that PLDT continues to invest in its cybersecurity infrastructure. "We need to invest in and implement technology that is efficient and effective, so we don't have to rely on telling people not to do this or that. People must be able do their thing without the need to think about their security," he said.

PLDT and its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart)'s long-standing consumer protection initiatives include measures aimed at curbing phishing, specifically mobile phone-aided criminal activities such as text scams. In addition to blocking SIMs that send ‘smishing’ messages, Smart has also blocked Uniform Resource Locators (URL) linked to these illegal activities.

In 2021, PLDT and Smart invested nearly ₱3 billion in cybersecurity infrastructure to help safeguard the public against emerging cyberthreats, vulnerabilities, and other online criminal activities.