As Filipinos increasingly rely on digital platforms to move, save, borrow, and manage money, Maya is emphasizing a cybersecurity approach that combines customer-facing controls, stronger enterprise defenses, and closer coordination across the financial ecosystem.
Speaking at the recent BusinessWorld Cybersecurity Summit, Maya executives said cybersecurity is becoming an integral part of the digital financial experience, with customers increasingly expected to have greater control over the security of their accounts while institutions strengthen protections behind the scenes.
Maya has integrated security controls directly into its app, allowing users to immediately freeze or unfreeze cards and manage how their cards are used. Other protections, including biometric authentication and fraud monitoring, operate in the background. Maya credit cards also use dynamic CVVs to provide an additional layer of security for online transactions.
Cybersecurity becomes part of the financial product
For Kristoffer Rada, Head of Corporate Affairs at Maya, cybersecurity is increasingly tied to consumer trust rather than being treated solely as a back-office function.
“For us in Maya, cybersecurity is not some back-office product, it’s really part of the product,” Rada said.
He said financial institutions, regulators, government agencies, and the broader technology ecosystem share responsibility for maintaining trust as more consumers depend on digital financial services.
Maya works with government and law-enforcement agencies, including the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Rada also called for technology-neutral and risk-based cybersecurity standards that can remain relevant as technologies change. Rather than focusing only on compliance with individual regulations, he said policies should prioritize customer protection, service continuity, accountability, and the ability of institutions to respond to and recover from cyber incidents.
“Technology evolves so fast. The rules that apply this year may no longer be applicable and could become archaic in five years,” Rada said. “Whatever technology evolves, you have to evaluate using the same standard because the risks are the same.”
Cyber resilience needs an enterprise-wide approach
Jan Martin Encina, Director of Information Security at Maya, said cybersecurity must extend beyond IT departments and become an organization-wide responsibility.
“Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT issue; it is a business imperative, a national security priority and a fundamental component of public trust,” Encina said.
He highlighted continuous monitoring, stronger identity and access management, resilient infrastructure, regular security testing, and established incident-response capabilities as key components of cyber resilience.
Encina also pointed to employee awareness and customer education as critical defenses, particularly as cybercriminals increasingly combine technical attacks with social engineering and tactics that exploit human behavior.
As cyber threats become more interconnected, he said public-private partnerships, cross-border cooperation, and threat-information sharing will also become increasingly important.
Maya’s approach reflects a broader shift in digital finance: cybersecurity is no longer confined to protecting backend systems but is becoming part of the product experience itself, from customer-controlled security features to institutional resilience and coordinated efforts against emerging threats.
