Fighting malware and spam

FTC notes malicious spam on the rise

FTC reports on a decade of spam fighting.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released a report reflecting on the ten years in which it has been involved in the fight against spam, detailing the findings of its 'Spam Summit' workshop held last summer, and proposing steps to be taken by stakeholders to mitigate the harmful effects of spam and phishing.

The report notes that the nature of spam - both in terms of the methods used by spammers and their motivations - has shifted over the past decade, with a new generation of malicious spam now on the rise.

The FTC, which has brought more than 90 law enforcement actions against spammers over the past 10 years, promises to continue to bring civil law enforcement actions wherever appropriate and to renew its efforts to work with both the anti-spam and anti-phishing communities.

The Commission calls for collaboration between law enforcement, industry and other stakeholders to be maximized, both domestically and abroad, and for efforts to deploy technological tools to be intensified. Specifically, the report states that the FTC will encourage industry-driven efforts for the widespread deployment of authentication technologies. Finally, the FTC calls for stakeholders to renew efforts to educate consumers about online threats, and to improve methods for disseminating educational materials both to consumers and businesses.

The full report (in pdf format) can be downloaded from the FTC website here.

05 January 2008

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