Cloudmark warns that European mobile operators aren’t protecting users against spam

Published 11th December 2008

According to a recent survey from messaging security leader Cloudmark, 100% of the top 12 mobile operators across Europe anticipate mobile spam volumes to rise as adoption of mobile social networking and mobile email increases. Remarkably however, only 16% are considering how to best guard against spam through mobile internet and email.

As the use of mobile messaging continues to surge, users of text and multimedia messaging are also encountering a corresponding increase in the number of unsolicited messages sent to their mobiles. Currently, mobile operators across Europe admit that up to 20% of their users are affected by mobile SMS spam yet 83% of them don’t yet have a filtering system in place to prevent its effects on customers.

Neil Cook, head of technology services EMEA, Cloudmark, says, “It’s imperative mobile operators take all spam seriously and implement security solutions now to prevent losing customers. In a related survey we conducted earlier this year, 2/3 of customers would consider leaving their mobile network due to spam. So, the threat of losing customers as a result of increased spam is one that providers should take seriously.”

Whilst all the surveyed operators acknowledge the problem, most are still not planning to implement a solution. A full quarter of those surveyed claimed they don’t have the necessary budget and a further 25% reasoned they didn’t believe the problem to be big enough – or they would deal with it at a later date.

Cook continued, “This reactive tactic may prove costly for operators striving to maintain low levels of customer churn. As the problem grows beyond simple spam attacks to identity theft, phishing and fraud, customer safety will decrease, exacerbating dissatisfaction and churn. Without providing additional messaging security now, mobile operators will unnecessarily put their customers and businesses at risk.”