Cloudmark Survey: Operators Ignore Mobile Spam

PRESS RELEASE

Cloudmark, Inc., the global leader in carrier-grade messaging security, today announced the results of a recent survey, which finds that 100 percent of the top 12 mobile operators in Europe anticipate mobile spam volumes to rise as adoption of mobile social networking and mobile e-mail increases. Remarkably, however, only 16 percent are considering how to best guard against spam through mobile Internet and e-mail.

As 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 mobile devices. Currently, mobile operators across Europe admit that up to 20 percent of their users are affected by mobile Short Message Service (SMS) spam; however, 83 percent don't yet have a filtering system in place to protect customers.

"It's imperative that mobile operators take all spam seriously and implement security solutions now to prevent losing customers," said Neil Cook, head of technology services EMEA at Cloudmark. "In a related survey we conducted earlier this year, two-thirds 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."

Further, while all the surveyed operators acknowledge the spam problem, most are still not planning to implement a solution. A full quarter of those surveyed claim that they do not have the necessary budget and an additional 25 percent reasoned that they do not 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."

About Cloudmark Cloudmark, Inc. is a global leader in carrier-grade messaging security, delivering the most accurate, high-performance and comprehensive real-time spam, virus and phishing protection for fixed, mobile and social networks. Cloudmark patented solutions combine Advanced Message Fingerprinting technology based on innovative, highly efficient algorithms and a Global Threat Network consisting of trusted reporters in every country across the globe to provide security intelligence and filtering at all points of the messaging infrastructure. Cloudmark solutions protect more than 850 million mailboxes for the world's largest service provider networks, including over 75 percent of major ISPs in the United States and Japan. Cloudmark's customers include Swisscom, EarthLink, Comcast, Tele2, Thus, NTT OCN and XS4ALL (KPN) as well as leading hosting providers, Mailtrust, domainFACTORY, Intergenia and others. Cloudmark is a privately held company headquartered in San Francisco with offices in London, Tokyo, Beijing and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit http://www.cloudmark.com.