AOTA Summit Discusses Spamming, Phishing & The Role of Security Companies

Hemanshu Nigam, Chief Security Officer, MySpace and Fox Interactive, said in his opening lines of a speech delivered at the AOTA (Authentication and Online Trust Alliance) Summit in Seattle in the first week of June 2008 that combating cyber crime along with protecting consumers and businesses is of prime importance today, and that it is significant to determine how government and business could jointly work towards it, as reported by DMNews on June 9, 2008.

Craig Spiezle, Internet Security Director, Microsoft, who spearheaded the Summit, emphasized on enhancing trust and confidence in the ecosystems of e-commerce and e-mail, and in following the best practices and technologies focused on combating the detriments of Internet fraud.

As per reports received, the issue of spamming was one of the main topics debated at the AOTA Summit. Those participating in the discussion highlighted that spamming was a huge problem, and as soon as a new technique developed to block the threat, another spammer seemed to emerge, applying yet another method to sneak into users' information.

Nevertheless, with its slogan to cut spamming activities, The Alliance said that spammers activities do not prevent industry forerunners from striking back and ensuring safety of consumers, and safeguarding their sites from getting infected.

At the Summit, delegates cited some instances - one coming from Goodmail provider of authenticated e-mail service. According to it, 55% of users of e-mail have certainly experienced phishing attempts, while another 41% might have become victims of them. The company also revealed that 87% of e-mail receivers are worried about phishing acts and identity theft, while 61% are reluctant to open e-mails, thinking about their security.

A second example cited at the Summit came from Web privacy seal provider, TRUSTe, who said that 75% of Internet and e-mail users choose not to disclose their payment card numbers and other personal information over the net to maintain their security.

But, according to Conference Chairman Craig Spiezle, although detection and prevention technologies have brought down the level of spam, other more hazardous threat - the illegal collection and exploitation of personal data - is on the rise, as reported by seattlepi in early June 2008.

Related article: AT&T Website Faces Hackers’ Axe

» SPAMfighter News - 6/27/2008