PLDT’s wireless unit Smart Communications Inc. has expressed support to renewed calls for the registration of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card to ensure consumer protection.
Smart made this statement after Grace Poe, chair of the Senate public services committee, urged members of the incoming 19th Congress to immediately pass the SIM Card Registration Bill which the company sees as an effective means to prevent text scams.
“As a longtime advocate of consumer online protection, Smart has been actively implementing initiatives to keep our customers safe, especially from scams and fraud,” said Alfredo Panlilio, PLDT Inc and Smart Communications president and CEO.
“We are always ready to support the legislative process. We welcome any opportunity to contribute to the success of the SIM card registration bill and support the government in developing its implementing rules and regulations,” Panlilio added.
Through their Cybersecurity Operations Group, PLDT and Smart recently blocked more than 23 million SMS containing three URLs identified as phishing sites.
This latest clampdown on ‘smishing’, or cybersecurity attacks via text messages that aim to steal the victim’s personal data, enabled the telcos to block over 600,000 text messages linked to smishing, hoaxes and spamming from January to May this year, PLDT and Smart blocked over 600,000.
PLDT and Smart also blocked almost 78,000 SIMs related to smishing over the same period.
Between mid-February and May, PLDT and Smart also blocked more than 500 domains specifically linked to smishing, while the Group has further blocked more than 10,000 domains tied to phishing since July 2021. – Irma Isip
