May 8, 2008
Mobile spam on the up
I mentioned last week how text message spam was becoming more than a nuisance for mobile phone users. Well, a new survey shows that two-thirds of UK users have been the victims of mobile spam and phishing attacks. This figure rises to 75% for 18-25 year olds who, obviously, spend most of their time drunk and are unable to make rational decisions about text messages they receive. (Link)
The worrying news for mobile phone operators is that the study reveals that 30% of users blame their operator and almost half of them would change to a competitor because of the spam.
Neil Cook of Cloudmark, who commissioned the survey, said:
“It’s a fallacy to think that mobile messaging spam isn’t yet an issue in the UK. Mobile spam may not be in the same league as traditional email spam, but subscribers’ tolerance of unwanted and unsolicited mobile messaging is virtually nil. Mobile operators simply can’t afford to adopt a wait-and-see strategy.”
The message is the very same one that Brandmail Solutions have been communicating to mailbox providers: your infrastructure is being used to rip off your users so get off your backside and do something about it.
Happy birthday spam!
Charles Arthur of The UK Guardian writes about the fifteenth birthday of the Internet and the thirtieth birthday of email – which, of course, is also the birth date of spam. The first email spam message garnered much debate as you can see here.
Charles rolls out the well known stats (spam accounts for 70% of all email traffic and 90% of all blog comment traffic). But he also counters this by suggesting that even though spam has been around from the beginning it can’t – and won’t – overwhelm the internet. (Link)
“…spam is self-limiting. That doesn't mean that the amount is going to reduce. It's just that the multiple of the people who respond to spam and the amount of money they have is limited. Smart people like you and I don't respond to it.”
He further illuminates his point by using a horticulturist analogy:
“Weeds grow faster than flowers, yet we're not overrun with them; even in fields left alone, weeds don't dominate.”
When I moved in to my new house a few years back I was broke for the first year so could not afford to get my garden done. I can tell Charles that the weeds were as tall as me twelve-month son.
Weeds – or spam - do dominate unless you take action but even if they didn’t the phishing fight isn’t about those who have the nous to look after themselves – it’s about helping those who don’t.
The Phisher Kings
I wish I could take credit for the excellent pun above used in the below article. The Fisher King is a figure from Arthurian legend who was charged with protecting the Holy Grail from medieval thieves. He is frequently wounded in the legs or groin and his kingdom suffers accordingly due to his infertility and inability to move about.
While Davey Winder of daniweb.com simply wrote a clever pun, I’d like to take it to the level of analogy and suggest that when you are phished your kingdom suffers – jumped-up criminals drive across America in a Toyota Sienna that they purchased using their phishing earnings, buying gas and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups using your credit card.
Network Box recently revealed that phishing attacks account for 67% of all malware – this is up from 24% in February and 48% in March – ouch! (Link)
And – the point I’m getting to - the US are the phisher kings with 21% of all viruses and 14% of spam originating in the US, nearly twice as much as China which has over four times the population..
A Network Box security analyst said: “Like spam, phishing attacks are unlikely to disappear completely … In fact, we will see more phishing with an increasing percentage in the form of Spear phishing, which is targeted phishing and Whaling - targeting big fish like CEOs. IT departments will have to ensure they have easy access to knowledge about the latest ploys so that they are in a position to advise their users."
Spear phishing? Whaling? And, I kid you not, the name of the security analyst was Simon Heron – a species of bird that prey on fish for sustenance. |
