PLDT subsidiary forges alliance with top auditing firm

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. subsidiary ePLDT’s mySecureSign Inc. (mSSI), the country’s first IT firm in the area of Internet trust services, has recently forged a strategic alliance with leading audit firm P&A Ernst & Young, to provide IT audit and support secure electronic commerce transactions.

"This alliance combines the strength of mSSI’s public certification services (PCS) with P&A Ernst & Young’s technology and security risk services (TSRS) to provide general information security services to users’ technical, business and personal needs," mSSI president and ePLDT co-managing director Ariel A. Roda said.

Online vendors, retailers and other entities that transmit confidential documents via e-mail applications, web browsers, shopping carts and other supported Internet devices will greatly benefit from this alliance, according to Roda.

Industry experts and web practitioners point to potential Internet fraud as the main reason why online transactions are kept to a minimum. Web users are hesitant to disclose sensitive information such as credit card numbers and other private demographic data which hackers, spammers and network infiltrators might intercept and use.

Greg Navarro, P&A Ernst & Young partner and TSRS head, said securing online network is the key ingredient in protecting businesses from technological risks. "The top consideration prior to implementing a truly secure online environment is a fool-proof antidote against network fraud. This alliance hopes to create value by bridging the gap between client’s needs and solutions to meet their expectations," he said.

Also, TSRS manager Donald Lorete said that to keep risks at a minimum, P&A Ernst & Young advises clients on the latest network security tools, mSSI through Verisign, proposes the use of digital certificates.

Internet trust provider mSSI is the principal international affiliate of Verisign, Inc., a leading US-based Internet trust services provider of network security to more than 765,000 websites, including the world’s top 40 e-commerce sites as well as 400 of the Fortune 500 companies’ sites. mSSI’s PCS uses public key infrastructure (PKI) in the issuance and revocation of digital certificates. PKI is the architecture, organization, techniques, practices and procedures that collectively support the implementation and operation of a certificate-based public key cryptosystem.

A digital certificate is a network data object that associates personal identity with a public or private encryption code to establish authentication and privacy between network users. Digital certificates contain the signers’ public key, indicate the "binding" or association, between that public key and the signer, are digitally signed by the user of the certificate — a Certification Authority and support digital signatures. The use of digital signatures as legally binding signatures is now recognized under Philippine law and is supported by virtually all of today’s standards-based Internet security protocols and applications.

mySecureSign, a wholly owned ePLDT affiliate company, is an end-to-end provider of security solutions, licensed to distribute the products and services of VeriSign in the Philippine and Southeast Asian markets.

ePLDT is the principal vehicle for PLDT’s Internet, e-commerce, and multimedia businesses and will eventually serve as the holding company for PLDT’s existing interests in a number of businesses including the cable television operator, Home Cable, and the Internet Service Provider, Infocom, while P&A Ernst & Young Punongbayan & Araullo, a member practice of Ernst &Young, provides value-added services to clients through its client-caring team of outstanding assurance, tax and business professionals who utilize leading-edge systems and technology, and are guided by a culture driven by the highest standards of quality, integrity and competence. With over 660 offices in 130 countries, Ernst & Young is one of the world’s leading professional services firms.