Leading Philippine fiber broadband and technology provider Converge ICT Solutions Inc. battened down the hatches and doubled down on its security efforts in 2024, blocking a whopping 183 billion attempts on its network to access illegal sites, its Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) reported.

Likening the Converge network to a digital fortress, CISO Andrew T.  Malijan said that its battlements were strengthened in 2024 as it blocked a record 183 billion entry attempts to  683,000 URLs / domains it has registered in its system as illegal sites.

“Acting on reports and submissions of government agencies as well as private entities, last year, we added 150,000 URLs or domains into our system that we tagged as illicit or unlawful. Traffic to these newly-enrolled URLs must have been quite heavy as we managed to block almost 20 times as much attempts in 2024, as we did in the years 2021-2023, which was just 10-12 billion attempts,” explained Malijan.

To give context to the numbers, the 150,000 URLS/ domains that lead to illegal sites were classified into Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM) or Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children (OSAEC), Phishing / Banking, Online Gambling, and Voyeurism.

Of these, CSAM/OSAEC was the highest, taking up nearly 98% of the total. This was followed by online gambling.

The sudden surge of entry attempts into illegal sites may very well be driven by that very force that ICT companies are racing to integrate into their systems: artificial intelligence.

Chief Executive Adviser Eugene Yeo apprises Converge employees on specialized technology topics such as AI and blockchain in a bid to train the workforce on emerging technologies impacting the broader tech landscape.

“These attempts on our customer network are most likely hinged on AI – hackers and malicious agents are no longer doing this manually or through human intervention. On our end, we can just keep banning, but we now have to think about how to use this same technology to identify malicious sites. So it’ll be down to AI vs. AI. That’s what we’re doing, internally, to protect our network in Converge” noted Converge Chief Executive Adviser and tech expert Eugene Yeo.

Further, Yeo emphasized that ISPs can only do so much even with the strength of AI-powered tools. Educating users to protect themselves online is the first line of defense.

“The way we have to approach it has to be different, the 183 billion attempts can easily go up to 200 or more billion. Education is ultimately the best defense,” Yeo added.

To help make the internet a safer place for its customers and end-users, Converge has been active in its campaign against OSAEC and other cyber threats, inking a partnership in 2022 with Stairway Foundation , a Philippine NGO promoting children’s rights through awareness, community assistance, and networking.

“Blocking access to websites hosting CSAEM is a crucial part of a multi-stakeholder approach to combat OSAEC. By preventing users from accessing these harmful sites, ISPs like Converge help disrupt the distribution of such materials and limit the revictimization for victims. This action also sends a strong message to the broader community –  that CSAEM is unacceptable and reinforces the concept that actors in the digital system also have their own accountability,” noted Ysrael Diloy, Child Protection Specialist at Stairway Foundation.  

As referenced by Malijan, Converge is in constant communication with law enforcement agencies such as the Philippine National Police (PNP), as well as international organizations such as the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) to essentially ‘crowdsource’ its database of illicit content. Through its partnership with IWF, for example, Converge can access the latter’s extensive URL List of OSAEC content and block these from its network.

Atty. Laurice Esteban-Tuason, Converge Data Privacy Officer invited cybersecurity expert and Asian Institute of Management Academic Program Director for the Master in Cybersecurity Philip Kwa to emphasize the importance of cybersecurity education and humans being the ‘first line of defense’ against cyber attacks.

Even as cybersecurity efforts were particularly robust in 2024, Senior Vice President & Corporate Compliance and Data Protection Officer Atty. Laurice Esteban-Tuason underlined the human rights policy of Converge to uphold the rights of children to privacy and protection in the digital space. Moreover, this affirms the company’s sustainability commitment to a safer internet.

“As part of our commitment to sustainability, we recognize that cybersecurity is integral to protecting our customers, our operations, and the broader digital ecosystem. By proactively blocking malicious websites and high-risk domains, we not only safeguard sensitive data but also reduce the environmental impact of cyberthreats, such as ransomware and phishing attacks, which can disrupt critical infrastructure. A secure digital environment is a sustainable one, and we remain steadfast in our efforts to create a safer online space for all,” said Esteban-Tuason.

Converge, in 2023, implemented a company policy on child protection and security measures to block illicit content in its network.