MANILA — The Gokongwei Group's digital bank GoTyme said it has adopted the latest cybersecurity tools ahead of its launch to counter phishing, malware, and other fraudulent activities.

GoTyme is a partnership between the Gokongwei group and the Singapore-based digital banking group Tyme. The digital bank received its license to operate from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in 2021.

“Without good cybersecurity you can’t have trust. We make use of the best security controls throughout the lifecycle," GoTyme Bank chief technology officer Chris Bennett said.

He said it would be able to reach to threats "much faster than any organization" since it is a cloud-first and cloud-only technology.

“Being cloud only, we can make changes fast. We bring experiences of tackling threats from South Africa and we’ve been able to integrate some of the latest security tools," he added.

In addition, its teams are trained in cyber development best practices even before the bank's code is written. It also uses SonarQube, or an open-source platform to continuously inspect and review codes to detect bugs, GoTyme said.

Internal and external security teams test the code for vulnerabilities during the building process and upon going live, the cyber operations center monitors, alerts and acts upon threats, it added.

“Our infrastructure is managed by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and we’re able to benefit from the range of secure certifications that they offer, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),” Bennett said.

In the Philippines, there have been increased reports of phishing, SMS-based attacks or smishing, as well as social engineering or the act of deceiving users into disclosing personal information.

GoTyme said it may use biometrics for high-value items to verify the identity of individuals making a transaction.

“Our payments fraud capability is world-leading, and we make use of our own and also industry data to spot and prevent attacks,” Bennett said.

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Once it goes live, clients will be able to open an account and receive free personalized debit card in under 5 minutes via digital kiosks in Robinsons Malls and Robinsons Supermarkets, it said.

GoTyme said it is set to launch in the third quarter of 2022.

• Digital bank GOTyme eyes mid-2022 launch: Lance Gokongwei
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