Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), PLDT’s wireless division, and the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) are looking into ways to work together to keep kids safe online and off the internet.
“We acknowledge the role of technology in helping create a child-friendly and child-sensitive society where children enjoy their rights. We believe that by building strong partnerships with private companies, we can craft more meaningful programs that protect children so they can maximize their potential and contribute to nation-building,” said Undersecretary Angelo Tapales, CWC Executive Director.
Undersecretary Angelo Tapales, CWC Executive Director
The Cyber Security Operations Group (CSOG) of PLDT and Smart demonstrated the numerous cutting-edge tools the PLDT group has deployed to combat child sexual abuse and exploitation in cyberspace (OSAEC).
Angel Redoble, FVP and the group’s Chief Information Security Officer, particularly highlighted PLDT and Smart’s capability to prevent customers from accessing child sexual abuse and exploitation materials (CSAEM) online, “PLDT and Smart have found a way to block CSAEM on the more difficult content level. Our massive threat database has allowed us to prevent more than 17 billion attempts to access these offensive materials in 2022.”
Through their participation in the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) in the United Kingdom and Project Arachnid at the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, PLDT and Smart have been able to develop the groundbreaking Child Protection Platform (C3P). The CSOG of PLDT and Smart receives CSAEM hashtags frequently and instantly disables them. PLDT and Smart use open-source threat information collection, buy commercial threat intelligence, and rely on law enforcement to distribute links to online child abuse content.
Keeping Filipinos secure from cyberattacks is an important aspect of PLDT and Smart’s larger mission to improve the country’s infrastructure and provide a better experience for its customers.
This philosophy of putting the customer first underlines the organization’s dedication to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 16, which seeks to stop all forms of violence against and torture of children as part of the creation of just, peaceful, and inclusive society.