Globe Telecom Inc. yesterday said it has invested almost $80 million over the last six years to protect consumers against cyberattacks as many have shifted to a digital lifestyle.
In a virtual event on cybersecurity and wellness, Anton Bonifacio, Globe chief information security officer, said the company has spent almost $80 million since 2015 to prevent cybersecurity attacks and to protect its customers which cover Mynt and its mobile wallet GCash as well as other companies under 917Ventures.
Globe said its annual cybersecurity investment is around $10 million depending on the type of cyberattack or threat landscape.
According to Bonifacio, the company has invested an additional $7.25 million in capital expenditure since the pandemic started solely to continue enhancing anti-spam capabilities in its network, as the wider digital adoption also contributes to increase in cybersecurity threats.
Bonifacio’s presentation showed the Filipinos’ shift to a digital lifestyle was accelerated by the pandemic, with a 27 percent increase in mobile app use for online shopping, while 45 to 70 percent of consumers have increased time spent in online gaming, social media and videos, and 22 percent expect to spend more on paid online entertainment.
With this, Globe said it has increased manpower in cybersecurity and privacy by 5.8 times to over 100 employees.
It also blocked 1 billion spam and scam messages, and deactivated 5,600 mobile numbers in 2021 to protect the consumers, Bonifacio said.
Globe said it continues to heighten its anti-spam and anti-scam campaign through a dedicated cybersecurity team that has deactivated 5,670 confirmed spam numbers, and has blocked close to 71 million spam messages in this year alone.
The telco added its specialized teams are part of a larger internal Cybersecurity and Data Privacy group that responds to spam complaints and proactively deals with spammers and scams. Globe terminates and blocks numbers of detected spammers through its systems. – Myla Iglesias
