PLDT Enterprise, together with Akamai Technologies Inc., has stepped up its cybersecurity solutions against DDoS extortion threats and attacks targeting the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector.
The partnership between PLDT and Akamai — a leader in secure delivery of digital experiences —started in 2015 and since then has 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.
As Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups says, “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.”
DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks, for instance, are illegal and malicious attempts to disrupt normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network by 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 web/online assets from cybersecurity threats and attacks and optimize performance of their online platforms.
Jojo Gendrano, FVP & Head of PLDT Enterprise Core Business, explains that “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” said Vaughan Woods, Akamai’s Regional VP, Web sales & Managing Director South Asia.