PLDT, Smart block over 1B access attempts, 224K URLs linked to online child abuse

Through the intensified capability of their leading cybersecurity solutions and Child Protection Platform, PLDT and Smart have blocked over 1 billion user attempts to access online child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) since November 2021. The group has also blocked more than 224,000 CSAM URLs or web addresses, as of end March 2022.

“In support of our continuing commitment to child protection and to the global fight against online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC), these milestone figures manifest our expanded capacity to both block illicit URLs and prevent end-user attempts to access CSAM,” said PLDT Chief Information Security Advisor Angel T. Redoble.

Amid the global rise in cybercrimes and cases of OSAEC, PLDT and Smart earlier invested about P2 billion into a beefed-up cybersecurity operations center, and a dedicated Child Protection Platform that allows the group to continuously detect, predict, respond, and prevent access to CSAM, while ensuring full compliance with customer data protection and privacy laws.

According to Redoble, these in-house solutions optimize top-notch cybersecurity technologies and utilize dynamic intelligence data gathered from PLDT and Smart’s alliances with entities like the Internet Watch Foundation and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.

“Seeing such significant results, we are all the more encouraged to constantly keep abreast with global best practices and forge more alliances to further enhance our infrastructure for customer safety and solutions for child protection,” shared Redoble.

As part of the group's environmental, social, and governance commitments, PLDT and Smart implement a pioneering Child Safeguarding Policy that embeds child rights and safety considerations into group-wide programs, practices, and technology solutions.

These initiatives concretize the group's active pledge to help the Philippines attain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG), particularly UNSDG #16 which stands against abuses, exploitation, trafficking, and violence against children.