PLDT Inc. and its subsidiary Smart Communications secured the National Privacy Commission’s (NPC) seal of registration, solidifying their commitment to customer data security.
“This is aligned with our goal of implementing the best global practices when it comes to protecting our customers’ data privacy,” said PLDT and Smart chief data privacy officer Leah Besa-Jimenez.
“We have been working closely with the NPC in taking the lead to do what is right by our customers, and in mobilizing our entire organization to put a premium on upholding data privacy in the way we design our systems, processes, products, and services,” she said.
PLDT and Smart said they continue to care for the privacy and security of the communities that they serve by implementing initiatives such as SIM registration via QR codes and cybersecurity talks to educate customers.
All employees, including store frontliners, also undergo mandatory data privacy refresher courses that require 100-percent compliance at all levels across the organization.
PLDT and Smart reiterated their support to the initiatives of the NPC in protecting Filipinos’ data during the commission’s visit to the headquarters in 2023.
The telcos demonstrated their preparedness and capability to protect the privacy and security of their customers at various levels – from customer service frontliners in the stores to the experts in the Cyber Security Operations Group (CSOG) Command Center.
The PLDT Group has been actively engaging global organizations, national government agencies and other likeminded institutions for a multi-stakeholder approach to combat online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC) and child sexual abuse and exploitation materials (CSAEM)-related issues.
The PLDT Group said it blocked 1.5 billion user attempts to access CSAEM as of end-2023.
It also invested heavily in its pioneering Child Protection Platform that blocks CSAEM at the more difficult content level.
The PLDT Group’s robust cybersecurity infrastructure fended off more than 16 billion attacks and attempts to breach its cybersecurity network last year. It also blocked more than 65 million SMShing messages.
Smart said it blacklisted more than 315,000 mobile numbers from its network.