PLDT Enterprise, the corporate and ICT unit of PLDT Inc., has added three tools to SmartSafe that help businesses check for SIM changes, unusual locations, and overseas roaming when reviewing online transactions. The additions give companies more information to decide whether a login or payment needs extra verification.
Introduced at the SmartSafe Authentication API launch, GeoCheck, NetIdentity, and RoamStatus use information from mobile networks to help assess possible fraud. These checks provide another layer of security aside from the usual details that customers enter themselves.
“Digital security should make people feel safer without making every transaction harder,” said Blums Pineda, chair of ePLDT and head of Enterprise Business Group, PLDT Enterprise. “What we want to give businesses through SmartSafe is another way to understand the context behind a digital interaction. By making trusted network information available to enterprises, they can make better-informed security decisions while keeping the customer experience simple.”
An application programming interface, or API, enables one software system to request information or use a function from another. SmartSafe APIs allow businesses to use mobile network information when checking customer activity.
- GeoCheck: Checks the general location. This tool helps a business check whether a user is in the general area of a transaction. A location that does not match could prompt the company to request further verification before allowing the activity.
- NetIdentity: Checks SIM and device changes. Its SIM Swap and Device Swap APIs can flag whether the SIM linked to a mobile number was recently changed or moved to another physical device. Businesses can use these signals when reviewing potentially risky logins or transactions.
- RoamStatus: Checks overseas roaming. This tool tells businesses whether a mobile phone is being used domestically or while roaming abroad. It provides a roaming status response without depending on location details supplied by the customer.
These signals help businesses decide when to take a closer look. A SIM change or overseas trip does not, by itself, establish that a transaction is fraudulent.
The approach could allow businesses to apply extra checks when activity appears unusual, while keeping routine transactions simpler.
The additions expand SmartSafe’s network-based authentication and fraud prevention tools. PLDT Enterprise has also introduced SilentAccess, which uses Smart’s network to verify users without requiring them to manually enter traditional one-time passwords in supported transactions.
According to PLDT Enterprise, SilentAccess can support account registration, logins, higher-value transactions, and account recovery.