PLDT and Smart’s Cyber Security Operations Group (CSOG) has met up with its technology providers to lay down improved processes and focus points to beef up the PLDT Group’s cybersecurity defenses and protect customers from cyber threats and attacks.

PLDT and Smart saw cyber-attacks against them spike nearly 9,000% to 16 billion in 2023 from 182 million in 2022.

PLDT and its wireless unit, Smart, signed up Computer Studies and Engineering (CSE) students from Jose Rizal University (JRU) to become cybersecurity champions. As students embrace the digital lifestyle, they are also exposed to different online threats, creating the need to make them cybersmart. 

PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) remind the public to carefully read through their emails or messages before responding or clicking attached links as local authorities expect online scams to rise during the holidays.

PLDT and wireless unit Smart participated as private sector representatives and highlighted the importance of harmonizing policies with technology during one of the panel sessions in the recent ASEAN ICT Forum on Child Online Protection held in Bangkok, Thailand.

In celebration of the International Literacy Day, PLDT and Smart have enlisted teachers in fortifying digital learning platforms and turning them into safe spaces through CyberSmart.

Smart urges peers and stakeholders to come up with a more coordinated response to online and text scams and fraud. 

PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. say they are testing a cooperative cybersecurity project called the Global Chain of Trust (GCOT), which aims to provide members and their stakeholders a ‘clean’ digital environment and block from the network domains that store and publish child abuse material. 

PLDT’s wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. enjoins customers to remain vigilant against text scams. The mobile operator says customer should not entertain calls or texts from unknown entities. Smart also advises customers against clicking links from suspicious messages, reiterating that only customers with registered SIMs can send outgoing calls and text messages and access the mobile carrier’s data services.

Building on the government’s efforts to curb cybercrime through SIM registration, PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) are urging the public to double check messages they receive through text and email before opening any attachment or clicking on links.