PLDT Enterprise is stepping up its cybersecurity solutions against DDoS extortion threats and attacks targeting the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector, in partnership with Akamai Technologies Inc.
Since 2016, synergies between PLDT and Akamai — a leader in secure delivery of digital experiences — have served the biggest and top banks in the country. With the impending threats against these customers from old actors targeting finance and retail, the need for more protection against these new threats are being heightened.
According to Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups, “we are proactively working against potential threats. PLDT Enterprise customers are assured of a differentiated internet and digital experiences with a suite of web performance and web protection solutions in partnership with Akamai.”
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are illegal and malicious attempts to disrupt normal traffic of a targeted server, service, or network. The disruption can be in the form of overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of fake internet traffic, collectively known as bots, in order to prevent legitimate users from accessing their websites.
Akamai’s Security Intelligence Research Team (SIRT) recently investigated a series of recent DDoS attacks targeting businesses across multiple sectors. The extortion demands were similar to past DDoS ransom groups, where initial contact starts with a threatening email, warning of an impending DDoS attack against their company unless a ransom is paid in Bitcoin.
The solutions brought by PLDT and Akamai aim to protect the customer’s web and online assets from cybersecurity threats and attacks by optimizing performance of their online platforms.
Jojo Gendrano, FVP & Head of PLDT Enterprise Core Business explains, “PLDT is leveraging on Akamai’s most pervasive and highly-distributed CDN with more than 285,000 servers in over 130 countries globally. Akamai’s Edge Platform is the world’s largest and most trusted CDN platform that PLDT can extend to Enterprises with end customers receiving high-quality and secure web experiences.”
These CDN services are likewise vital in helping banks and financial institutions become more protected against cyber threats.
Jecyn Chua-Teng, Vice-President & Corporate Relationship Management Head of PLDT Enterprise, credits the strategic partnership between PLDT Enterprise and Akamai Technologies. “This partnership has helped us deliver the necessary solutions and protection for the BFSI Industry, with unmatched and superior customer service and analytics.”
“Akamai’s intelligent edge platform surrounds everything, from the enterprise to the cloud, and helps customers realize competitive advantage through agile solutions that extend the power of our multi-cloud architectures which results in a meeting customer needs,” according to Vaughan Woods, Akamai’s Regional VP, Web sales & Managing Director South Asia.