Telecommunications titan PLDT Inc. and tech giant Microsoft have forged a partnership deal for threat intelligence sharing to combat cybercrime in the Philippines.
Under the partnership, the two companies will work together through Microsoft’s Cyber Threat Intelligence Program (CTIP) to “strengthen the country’s digital borders and infrastructure security against cyber threats.”
The CTIP collects and distributes actionable cyber intelligence, including those that are derived from the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit botnet takedown operations to Computer Emergency Response Teams, Internet Service Providers and Critical Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Centers.
CTIP data is also engineered into specific Microsoft products and services to help customers identify threats in their computing environments.
With this strategic partnership, PLDT will gain access to Microsoft DCU’s Azure-based cyber threat intelligence in real time, providing information about the impact in the Philippines from the malware families DCU has disrupted in the past.
“Our mature and sophisticated threat intelligence operations is one of the key and most robust pillars of the PLDT group’s cybersecurity structure. We are glad to partner with Microsoft to help fortify our strong cyber threat intelligence operations, and to help us better protect our customers in particular, and the country’s cyber defenses in general,” PLDT FVP and CISO Angel T. Redoble said.
In 2021 alone, the PLDT Group acquired information on more than 200 million cyber threats and prevented close to 300 million combined types of cyber attacks.
“Security is at an inflection point as cyberattacks become more sophisticated and digital attack surfaces exponentially increase. We believe that anything less than comprehensive security is no security at all,” said Microsoft Philippines Country General Manager Andres Ortola.
Microsoft analyzes over 6.5 trillion signals daily to identify emerging threats to protect customers and in response to the increasing cyber threats in the Philippines. Globally, Microsoft plans to invest $20 billion over the next five years to accelerate efforts to integrate cyber security by design and to deliver advanced security solutions.