PLDT’s wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. reported a significant decline in the number of SMShing messages after it added a new and more advanced firewall that prevents text scams and spam messages from being sent to customers.
“Smart continues to upgrade its cyber defenses to further protect customers from text scams. The new firewall blocks malicious text messages from being sent using the network. This also covers the full cycle of blocking SMShing messages from both the sending and receiving ends,” said PLDT and Smart Chief Information Security Officer Joseph Gendrano.
In a statement, Smart said it migrated the bulk of its SMS handling capacity to the new network firewall in the first half of July to clamp down on malicious links often found in unsolicited text messages.
Results have shown that the new network cybersecurity solution could block as many as 30 million malicious texts daily. This has also led to a notable decline in the number of text scams reported by customers in July.
Smart said it continues to enhance the security features of its SMS platform to further curb mobile technology-aided phishing activities.
This new tool builds on Smart’s existing solution, protecting customers from receiving malicious text messages.
From January to July this year, Smart has prevented more than a billion SMShing messages from reaching customers. Some 770 thousand mobile numbers involved in illicit activities have also been blocked from the Smart network for the same period.
Criminals often bait potential victims with promises of financial gains or too-good-to-be-true deals to lure them into opening the links that then lead to fake websites.
These malicious websites will then ask victims to key in personal information including bank account details.
Complementing this new network security solution is PLDT and Smart’s domain blocking capability that’s integrated into the group’s cybersecurity infrastructure.
In June alone, the PLDT group has blocked more than 20 billion attempts to open malicious domains. The blocking tool has also amassed nearly five million domains with malicious URLS tied to phishing, spam, and other fraudulent activities.
Smart also continues to explore other measures to combat cybercrime, collaborating with key government agencies to curb fraudulent activities being conducted over mobile services, and calling for a multi-stakeholder alliance to further safeguard Filipinos from these scams.
It also urges the government to crack down on the sale of “fake cell towers” that scammers use to circumvent telco networks and push malicious messages straight to subscribers’ mobile phones.