“This initiative is anchored on our commitment to deliver superior customer experience – something significantly influenced by how well we are able to protect data entrusted to us by our millions of customers,” said Alfredo S. Panlilio, PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications, Inc. President and CEO.

Held in time to mark the Global Data Privacy Day, Commissioner John Henry Du Naga of the National Privacy Commission, Nicole Stephensen, Founder of Ground Up Consulting, and the telco’s in-house experts and leaders underscored how technology and privacy can go hand-in-hand when it comes to customer-centricity.

“To have good customer experience does not mean foregoing technology or vice versa. We are changing that mindset and putting privacy as an integral part of our design,” said Alex G. Seminiano, PLDT Chief Information Officer.

For PLDT Chief Data Privacy Officer Leah Besa-Jimenez, taking the lead in this campaign means seeking to implement the best practices. “It’s setting the tone for our people to respect and protect privacy in the way we design our products and services, even in the way we work together.”

Amid the mobility restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company was able to quickly adapt to a hybrid work setup, giving employees the tools to ensure that data is protected.

“Our data privacy foundations have to be sound for us to work in an agile way. Since data is an essential component in our work, we are putting data privacy at the core of human resource,” said Gina P. Ordoñez, Chief People Officer at PLDT and Smart.

Alongside data privacy, the telco has also been a staunch advocate of cyber security, teaching Filipinos how to identify online threats and mitigate cybersecurity risks.

“Privacy and security always go together. We also need to build a cyber security mindset. We all know that an organization with a Culture of Cyber Security results in the highest level of data protection and data privacy,” said Angel T. Redoble, PLDT Chief Information Security Officer.

The forum is part of a broader PLDT program to elevate customer experience and equip its employees as data privacy champions for customers.

PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) have uncovered and blocked new domains in the past 24 hours, in its war versus SMS spamming, protecting customers from fraud and scammers.

From October 21 to November 20 this year, the Group had already blocked at least 15,000 mobile numbers, as well as at least 60 domains directly related and involved in the ongoing SMS spam offering fake jobs to users.

The modus was recently exposed by PLDT and Smart’s Cyber Security Operations Group (CSOG) as a scam, victimizing unsuspecting subscribers with promised commissions. As the scammers devise more sophisticated tactics, the Group’s threat intelligence, cybersecurity and cybercrime investigation units are also relentlessly maintaining their operations 24/7.

“We have already blocked 60 domains connected to this scam, and we are unceasingly uncovering new domains that have surfaced recently. These have already been barred from our system, preventing our subscribers from accessing malicious links and disallowing fraud to proceed. We take decisive action once we see after conduct of a thorough investigation—that the facts show the complaint to be valid”, said Angel T. Redoble, the Chief Information Security Officer of PLDT and Smart’s Cyber Security Operations Group.

The said scheme is believed to be operating on a global scale, in which scammers successfully obtain the bank account numbers of mobile users who choose to engage.

To protect subscribers from cyber attacks, PLDT and Smart have been aggressively conducting spam detection and blocking activities against unsolicited, fake job hiring content. This month alone, the system has blocked an average of 600 mobile numbers daily, a figure which is approximately 16.5% of the total 3,435 scam and phishing sites blocked from SMS, emails, bank customer reports, and intelligence operations in November.

Despite the sudden growth of SMS scams and phishing attacks, the numbers reveal that such malicious activities occur substantially even outside text messaging. As such, PLDT and Smart are also sustaining their collaboration with other stakeholders and government agencies for intelligence and information sharing.

“We continue to work closely with the Department of Trade and Industry, National Telecommunications Commission, and the National Privacy Commission in addressing this issue. We realize the urgency of the need to protect the public from these scammers,” said Atty. Roy D. Ibay, Smart Vice President for Regulatory Affairs.

“Having said that, we also believe that we need to balance, ensuring that when we block URLs and MINs, we do so in a manner that is fair, lawful, and responsible. We do not want to inadvertently harm legitimate users of our services in pursuit of a handful of unscrupulous individuals,” he added.

PLDT and Smart respect their subscribers’ fundamental right to privacy and commit to safeguarding their personal data. As stated in its privacy commitment, the PLDT Group will never rent or sell its subscribers’ personal data to third parties. When personal data is shared, it is done in accordance with the law or in special circumstances where the users have provided their consent