New PLDT and Smart Privacy Program Sets Benchmark for Data Protection in Southeast Asia

PLDT Inc. (PLDT) and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) are putting Filipinos in charge of their own data, selecting OneTrust, the AI-ready governance platform, to help PLDT give customers unprecedented control over how their information is used, while setting a new regional benchmark for privacy and trust.

PLDT and Smart have unveiled their unified consent program, leveraging the OneTrust Universal Consent and Preference Management (UCPM) solution. With Smart serving over 59 million wireless subscribers and PLDT Home connecting 3 million fixed-line customers, the PLDT Group’s integration of OneTrust's robust consent and preferences capabilities empowers more individuals than any other telco in the SEA region––offering them greater control and visibility of their data. The OneTrust UCPM solution centralizes how customer privacy choices are collected and managed, highlighting the telcos’ commitment to data protection and customer empowerment.

OneTrust’s UCPM solution brings significant benefits to PLDT, Smart, and their millions of customers. The OneTrust UCPM solution empowers PLDT and Smart to streamline compliance with consent rules and make direct marketing more efficient and targeted. It also enables deeper customer insights, helping companies deliver relevant content and services and drive personalization while following privacy standards.

OneTrust’s UCPM solution enables PLDT and Smart to offer customers greater control over personal data. PLDT and Smart customers can easily manage their privacy settings and ensure that data sharing within PLDT’s ecosystem happens only with their explicit consent. This leads to smarter recommendations, curated content, and a safer, more personalized digital experience.

“Our commitment to privacy by design is reinforced through UCPM. It empowers our customers by giving them control over their data while positioning us to enable responsible data monetization in the future,” said Leah Jimenez, Chief Data Privacy Officer of PLDT and Smart.

“The PLDT Group’s implementation of OneTrust’s UCPM solution sets a new standard for consent management in Southeast Asia,” said Ojas Rege, SVP & General Manager at OneTrust. “Consent drives personalization and, therefore, value for customers, enabling long-term connection and loyalty. This shows companies can prioritize customer trust and ensure responsible data use while accelerating innovation.” OneTrust is a leading entity in the privacy technology sector, offering out-of-the-box solutions that automate privacy operations to scale compliance and reduce regulatory risk.

With OneTrust’s UCPM solution, PLDT and Smart are strengthening data privacy while setting a regional benchmark for responsible innovation. This initiative is part of PLDT and Smart’s broader program to reinforce cybersecurity and data privacy across the organization, underscoring their commitment to elevating the quality of customer experience.

Globe strengthens SMS anti-spam efforts

Globe continues to heighten its anti-spam and anti-scam campaign through a dedicated cybersecurity team that has deactivated 5,670 confirmed spam numbers, and successfully blocked close to 71 million spam messages in this year alone.

The company’s 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, including those reported through www.globe.com.ph/stopspam. 

“We take unsolicited and fraudulent messages seriously, and protecting Globe customers from these scams remains a top business priority,” said Anton Bonifacio, Globe Chief Information Security Officer.  He added that since the pandemic started, the company has invested an additional $7.25 million in CAPEX solely to continue enhancing anti-spam capabilities in its network.

Globe has also partnered with major universal and commercial banks, as well as Lazada and Shopee, to minimize not just spam but also scams and phishing activities; ensuring the protection of customers within the network. These partner companies report fake numbers, spoofed sender names, and websites, which Globe in turn blocks in its network immediately, as they are reported.

Globe stressed that, while it is doing what it can to control spam on the network side, there are also tools available to customers on the "device" side. Customers can use the "Messages" app by Google as their default Android SMS messenger for instance, since the app has highly-effective built-in spam filters similar to how a "Google Mail" user may have built-in spam filters.

“Given the ongoing pandemic, many businesses are struggling to get their products across to consumers. This has contributed to a  surge in unsolicited marketing campaigns from digital marketers or spammers, who use existing number databases culled from public information or online data,” added Bonifacio. 

Globe is fully aware of the inconveniences and related problems that may arise from such text messaging scams, and continues to intensify efforts to create a spam-free experience for all customers.

Globe strongly supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly UN SDG No. 9, which highlights the roles of infrastructure and innovation as crucial drivers of economic growth and development. Globe is committed to upholding the UN Global Compact principles and contributes to 10 UN SDGs.

 

To learn more about Globe, visit www.globe.com.ph. 

Sony Announces World’s First CFexpress Type A Memory Card with High-speed Performance and Tough Durability

(MANILA, PHILIPPINES August 2020) – Today, Sony Electronics Inc. announced a new generation of media — the world’s first[i] CFexpress Type A memory cards, in both 80GB and 160GB, (CEA-G80T and CEA-G160T) as the most recent addition to Sony’s TOUGH specification cards. Delivering high transfer speed, durability and reliability, Sony’s new CFexpress Type A cards offer professional and stress-free performance for photographers and content creators.

High-speed Performance

Both the CEA-G80T (80GB) and CEA-G160T (160GB) use the latest flash memory control technology to achieve write speeds as high as 700MB/s¹ and read speeds as high as 800MB/s¹, greatly reducing buffer clearing times for efficient, stress-free shooting. The CFexpress Type A cards are ideally suited for high-speed continuous shooting of more than 1,000 uncompressed RAW still images, as well as 4K 120p movie recording at high bit rates with the Slow & Quick Motion function[ii] when paired with new Alpha 7S III, which features two CFexpress Type A compatible media slots, that also support UHS-I and UHS-II SDXC/SDHC cards, for simultaneous media capture or extended continuous recording of even the highest bit rate data. Compliance with the VPG400 video performance, guarantee profile specification ensures stable video recording at 400 MB/s—creating a smooth workflow for professional creators.

Effective Heat Dissipation Design

The new CFexpress Type A memory cards are equipped with a heat sink to transfer heat generated by the card to the exterior when transmitting large amounts of data at high speed, using Sony's original alloy with excellent thermal conductivity. This enables users to record for long periods of time[i] even when recording 4K 120p video internally.

Tough Durability

Keeping up with Sony’s TOUGH specifications, the new CFexpress Type A memory cards feature bending and impact resistance to protect precious data, even when frequently changing cards in the harshest environments.  They are up to five times more resistant to drop impact and up to ten times more resistant to bending, compared to CFexpress Type A requirement standards, for outstanding durability. In addition, thanks to a specialized internal structure, they achieve an IPX7 water ingress protection rating and an IP5X dust ingress protection rating (IP57) for enhanced durability.

Reliability

Accidents happen. Sony’s Memory Card File Rescue[ii] data recovery software allows users to recover accidentally deleted RAW images and 4K videos from memory cards. In addition, Sony’s Media Scan Utility[iii] media diagnostic software will be updated to support CFexpress Type A cards allowing users to diagnose and receive a warning before the number of read/write cycles approach the card’s limit.

CFexpress Type A/SD Card Reader

Optimized for the new CFexpress Type A memory cards, the CFexpress Type A/SD card reader (MRW-G2) provides SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 2) transfer speed, via its USB Type-C® connector, allowing creators to establish an efficient workflow when dealing with high-resolution images files, 4K video, and other types of high-volume data. When combined with a CFexpress Type A card, it allows users to transfer data approximately 2.8 times faster than with conventional media.[iv] The MRW-G2 card reader can be used with CFexpress Type A and SDXC/SDHC (UHS-I and UHS-II) memory cards.

Availability

The CFexpress Type A memory cards and card reader will be available in the Philippines in October 2020. Prices will be available soon.

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[i] Depends on-camera performance

[ii] Does not support data recovery for Content Protected and Game Data files. Not all data may be recoverable.

[iii] MRW-G2 CFexpress Type A/SD card reader is required for CFexpress Type A card diagnosis. Diagnosis is not possible with readers from other manufacturers or a direct camera connection.

[iv] Sony test conditions. Compared to Sony’s SDXC UHS-II memory card.

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[i] As of July 2020, Sony Survey

[ii] 10-bit depth and 4:2:2 color sampling, All Intra recording, when shooting in slow motion.

Globe Business and Zscaler team up to strengthen PH cybersecurity

In this day and age, cybersecurity has become a necessity more than a competitive advantage. The introduction of remote work, constant use of collaboration tools, digitization of personal records, mainstreaming of digital payments, and the daily exchange of company and customer data over the internet are only some of the factors that should make cybersecurity a priority for organizations across the Philippines.

In line with this, Globe Business joined the Zscaler Summit Partner Program to help companies drive their digital transformation, as business activities take a dramatic shift online.

 

The Zscaler™ cloud platform is the largest cloud security platform in the world, processing more than 100 billion transactions and detecting about 100 million threats per day from users across 185 countries. Zscaler serves nearly 4,000 customers across all major industries, including over 400 of the Forbes Global 2000 companies.

 

“With the volatility of business environments, the complexity of applications and programs, and the urgency to shift to the cloud, every organization’s IT security should evolve accordingly,” shares Peter Maquera, Senior Vice President for Globe Business. “This is why our partnership with Zscaler is very timely in helping businesses transform their cybersecurity approach, so they can focus on educating and empowering employees with secure, remote access to applications through the world’s largest security cloud.”

 

Andrew Mann, Zscaler Director of Alliances and Channel for the Asia Pacific and Japan also shared his thoughts on the partnership: “The days of all employees working in an office and connecting to a corporate network are gone. Modern businesses must help employees be effective no matter where they work, and this demands a cloud-first approach to security. Zscaler was built in the cloud and for the cloud in order to securely connect authorized users to the right applications. Together with Globe, our global resources and our round-the-clock detection capabilities—which contribute to approximately 120,000 unique security updates a day, can ensure that businesses are protected from security threats.”

 

Through this partnership, Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) and Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) is now part of Globe Business’ growing cybersecurity solutions portfolio. Zscaler Internet Access™ (ZIA) is a cloud security service that transforms networks by delivering cloud-based internet and web security that scales to all users, regardless of location. Meanwhile, Zscaler Private Access™ (ZPA) delivers on Zero Trust Network Access by securing access to private applications without those applications or users ever connecting to the network.

 

As a long-standing ally for digital transformation, Globe Business encourages companies to integrate their cybersecurity strategies along with their business continuity plans. The path towards a cyber-secure nation is within reach with Globe’s reliable and resilient network backed by the world’s leading cybersecurity experts.

 

Protect your business against persistent threats. Visit our website or get in touch with your Globe Business Account Manager to learn more about Zscaler and the rest of our top-notch cybersecurity solutions.

 

Managed Google Play earns key certifications for security and privacy

With managed Google Play, organizations can build a customized and secure mobile application storefront for their teams, featuring public and private applications. Organizations’ employees can take advantage of the familiarity of a mobile app store to browse and download company-approved apps.

As with any enterprise-grade platform, it’s critical that the managed Google Play Store operates with the highest standards of privacy and security. Managed Google Play has been awarded three important industry designations that are marks of meeting the strict requirements for information security management practices.

Granted by the International Organization for Standardization, achieving ISO 27001 certification demonstrates that a company meets stringent privacy and security standards when operating an Information Security Management System (ISMS). Additionally, managed Google Play received SOC 2 and 3 reports, which are benchmarks of strict data management and privacy controls. These designations and auditing procedures are developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

Meeting a high bar of security management standards

To earn the ISO 27001 certification, auditors from Ernst & Young performed a thorough audit of managed Google Play based on established privacy principles. The entire methodology of documentation and procedures for managing other companies’ data are reviewed during an audit and must be made available for regular compliance review. Companies that use managed Google Play are assured their data is managed in compliance with this industry standard. Additionally, ISO 27001 certification is in line with GDPR compliance.

Secure data management

With SOC 2 and SOC 3 reports, the focus is on controls relevant to data security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy, which are verified through auditing reports. In managed Google Play, the data and private applications that enter Google’s systems are administered according to strict protocols, including determinations for who can view them and under what conditions. Enterprises require and receive the assurance that their information is handled with the utmost confidentiality and that the integrity of their data is preserved. For many companies, the presence of a SOC 2 and 3 report is a requirement when selecting a specific service. These reports prove that a service company has met and is abiding by best practices set forth by AICPA to ensure data security.

Ongoing commitment to enterprise security

With managed Google Play, companies’ private apps for internal use are protected with a set of verified information security management processes and policies to ensure intellectual property is secure. This framework includes managed Google Play accounts that are used by enterprise mobility management (EMM) partners to manage devices.

Their commitment is that Android will continue to be a leader in enterprise security. As your team works across devices and shares mission-critical data through applications hosted in managed Google Play, you have the assurance of a commitment to providing your enterprise with the highest standards of security and privacy.