A whopping 12 billion access attempts to illicit and harmful Web addresses have been restricted by fiber broadband provider Converge ICT Solutions at the end of 2023.
For 2023 alone, Converge said it blocked a staggering 9.8 billion requests to be connected to illegal sites. This reflects a more than 400-percent spike from the nearly 1.9 billion requests blocked by the company during the previous year.
“Over the past year, Converge redoubled its efforts to ensure that our network won’t be exploited for criminal activities. We take seriously our role in mitigating these threats, putting in place the necessary safeguards to deliver a more positive digital experience to our users,” said Converge chief network transformation officer Paulo Martin Santos.
According to Santos, this proactive move is significant in averting potential cybercrimes as entry into these sites is immediately denied the moment a user clicked on them.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) reported last December that cybercrime-related incidents in the country soared by 400 percent for the whole of 2023.
Based on the company’s statistics last year, access attempts to malicious sites peaked in the third quarter, with almost 4.5 billion requests. Moreover, around 198,000 uniform resource locators (URLs) and domains have been added to the company’s growing network of restricted addresses associated with illegal activities.
The majority of these sites contain harmful materials related to child sexual abuse and online exploitation of children, as part of the company’s partnership with the international organization Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).
Other illicit activities that have been prevented through the company’s filtering system include phishing and illegal financial transactions, online gambling, and voyeurism, among others.
To date, Converge has already blacklisted over 530,000 newly enrolled sites, thus browsing these websites, pages, and resources is prohibited when connected through the Converge network.
As the local authorities bolster its anti-cybercrime drive this year, Santos said a partnership with an international law enforcement organization is in the pipeline to heighten its efforts to combat other forms of cybercrime.
