The Philippine Chamber of Telecommunications Operators (PCTO) said the country’s telecommunications companies must urgently implement strict security measures against scam and spam messages, citing an increase in out-of-network scam messages that bypass telecom networks.
“This new wave of scam messages is concerning because fraudsters have resorted to methods that do not pass through telecom networks, allowing them to bypass our already robust filters,” PCTO President and Globe General Counsel Froilan M. Castelo said in a statement on Tuesday .
For the first quarter, Globe reported that it blocked a total of 362.77 million scam/spam messages, down from 1.1 billion in the same period last year.
Additionally, Globe noted a decline in banking-related spam and scam messages to a range of 1.04 million to 4.07 million in the January to March period.
Despite the decline in scam and spam messages, the PCTO says there is an increasing threat from scam/spam messages outside the network. These are malicious messages sent to mobile users outside their telecom provider.
Mr. Castelo said there is an urgent need for improved cooperation among telecom players to address this issue.
Fraudsters exploit Internet-based messaging platforms and other rich communications services for these activities, he noted.
“Industry players and key stakeholders must work closely together to combat this trend. Let us focus on finding ways to defeat our common enemy: scammers,” Mr. Castelo said.
Separately, PLDT Inc. said. and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. that they are intensifying their measures against scammers.
From January to May, Smart said it blacklisted more than 615,788 mobile numbers linked to illegal and fraudulent activities such as spamming and SMS phishing.
“We are actively working with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center and the NTC (National Telecommunications Commission), our telecom industry colleagues and other private and public sector allies, to provide a comprehensive response to the threat of text messaging and phishing scammers. ,” PLDT and Smart Chief Information Security Officer Jojo G. Gendrano said in a statement.
CYBER SECURITY AS A PRIORITY IN THE BOARDROOM
Meanwhile, Chris Painter, chairman of the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise Foundation, said Philippine companies should prioritize cybersecurity to boost resilience against the increasing number of attacks such as data breaches.
“The most important thing companies need to do is make it a priority at board level. That is something that is not just the job of the chief invasion security officer and that means they have to invest in it,” he said in an interview.
Mr Painter said entities must develop protocols in collaboration with authorities to ensure they respond effectively to attacks.
“Strengthening the targets is one thing, but that resilience and also analyzing afterwards and working with others to see what’s going on and with the government, I think, is critical.”
He added that countries like the Philippines need to work with partners and build connections with other countries to address these issues.
He cited geopolitical issues and investments as reasons why the Philippines was targeted.
Recently, GCash reportedly suffered an alleged breach of data from its know-your-customer process, which is mandatory for identifying customers who open an account. However, the e-wallet service clarified that initial findings showed no evidence of a data breach in their system and assured that customers’ funds and accounts were not affected.
Ronald B. Gustilo, national campaigner of Digital Pinoys, said the organization welcomes GCash’s assurance that no accounts have been compromised and encourages cooperation with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center’s investigation.
“We also encourage Gcash to continuously take measures to protect their database and their entire system so that their customers have the assurance that their funds and the personal information entrusted to the e-wallet provider are safe,” said he.
Other similar cases confirmed by the National Privacy Commission involved Toyota Motors Philippines, Robinsons Malls, Maxicare Healthcare and Jollibee Foods Corp.
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