GCash Reassures Customers of Account Safety Amid Data Breach Investigation

Manila – In light of an ongoing investigation into a reported data breach, GCash, a leading mobile payments service in the Philippines, has assured its customers that their accounts and funds are secure.

According to Philippines News Agency, GCash’s Chief Marketing Officer, during the GCash Futurecast 2024 event on Friday night, the company places utmost importance on customer safety and trust. This statement follows the initiation of a probe by the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) into the alleged data breach reported earlier last week. Trinidad emphasized that a recent inspection of their know-your-customer (KYC) data revealed no evidence of a compromise. This inspection was a response to claims by Deep Web Konek that a threat actor named KryptonZombie had uploaded approximately 100 gigabytes of GCash user data, including sensitive information such as mobile numbers, IDs used for KYC processes, account numbers, and more.

Trinidad highlighted the company’s commitment to security, mentioning advanced technologies such as “double safe” that incorporate mobile personal identification numbers, one-time pins, and facial verification to ensure that the person accessing an account is indeed its owner. “Today, we also introduced Online PaySafe, because we know that many scams today involve victims falling prey to spoofed websites of well-known commerce sites. It redirects you to the GCash app, going through all secure measures,” he added.

The company also focuses on educating its customers about cybersecurity, working in conjunction with law enforcement agencies like the CICC, the Philippine National Police, and the National Bureau of Investigation. GCash’s proactive measures include taking down 1,900 phishing sites and thwarting 3.2 million account takeover attempts between January 2023 and May 2024, in addition to blocking 5.5 million fraudulent accounts.

The Futurecast event also served as a platform for GCash to unveil its latest fintech innovations, including Tap to Pay and WatchPay options for public transport and retail payments, and a slew of other features aimed at enhancing the financial technology landscape in the Philippines.