Welcome to the Autumn Issue of the Airwide Newsletter. Already the clock is ticking down to Mobile World Congress ’10 in Barcelona! In the coming busy months leading up to the show we plan to explore a number of themes, with the central one for this issue being Mobile Security.

In our last edition we spent some time talking about the app explosion and the critical questions operators face as they explore investment in mobile applications, one of which is the question of how to protect networks and precious mobile subscribers from escalating threats to security. Opening up the network to new, more interactive applications and content means also opening the door to fraudulent and malicious entities. In this edition we’ll direct you to a new security resource on our MM2 blog site, as well as a series of podcasts that will give you an overview of the worldwide threat level as well as highlight some regional trends. We’ve also got some guest posts from industry renowned experts that will give you some additional food for thought and finally, we’ll shine the spotlight on one of our new partners – Sentry Wireless.

IN THIS ISSUE

Spamalot David Murphy of Mobile Marketing Magazine considers the vexed issue of mobile spam

It’s easy to take your phone for granted these days. Not as a phone of course, though like everyone else, I do occasionally use it to speak to people. It’s all the other stuff I can do with it that I take for granted. The fact I can check my email, listen to music, and get the latest news and football scores, on a device that fits in my shirt pocket and goes with me virtually everywhere I go.

All of which makes it no surprise that mobile is starting to appeal to brands as a marketing channel. And in my experience, it’s one that the vast majority use very responsibly. I won’t trot out the old arguments about how personal the mobile is, and how much we are all attached to our phones, and that anyone abusing mobile as a marketing channel risks ruining whatever relationship they have established with the consumer, because we’ve all heard those arguments a thousand times before. And let’s be honest, you would have to look very hard to find an example of a big, proper, grown-up brand spamming people on their mobile phone - it just doesn’t happen, because professional marketers know the rules of engagement on mobile, and stick closely to them.

But there are more brands in the world than the big, proper, grown-up ones. There are also the dodgy, fly-by-night ones, who will not think twice about spamming people on their mobile phones. I would say that over the course of the last 12 months, I’ve probably been on the end of about half a dozen pieces of mobile marketing spam, usually by way of an unsolicited text message offering me something I neither needed nor wanted.

And it does leave a nasty taste in the mouth, this invasion of privacy, of your personal space. So I think it’s incumbent on mobile operators to take whatever measures they can to prevent this kind of thing happening. Because after swearing at the company trying to spam me, I tend to turn my attention next to my network operator. Aren’t they supposed to stop this kind of thing happening? Have they been selling my number? These, I believe, are the typical thoughts that run through the mind of someone who has been spammed on their phone.

The more a phone becomes less a phone and more a PC, the more these dodgy companies and individuals will use it to try to spam or defraud people. And if their mobile operator can’t or won’t stop it happening, then people will naturally switch to one who can. Which makes mobile security look less like an imposition for a mobile operator, than a point of difference over the competition. Right now though, it’s not one that I hear too many operators shouting about.
David Murphy is the Editor of Mobile Marketing Magazine
www.mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk

New Mobile Security Podcast Series

By Airwide Solutions

Airwide recently launched a mobile security resource page via its industry news portal, Mobile Messaging 2.0 (www.mobilemessaging2.com), which will provide information, resources and analysis from Airwide, our partners and industry experts on the most effective tactics for combating mobile security threats. Airwide’s core product offerings include a set of mobile security and anti-spam solutions which address the increasing security demands on mobile operators.  Listen to some of the podcasts recently developed for the portal below.

Mobile Security in the Smartphone Era
Airwide’s Jim Chou kicks off a series of mobile security podcasts with a look at some recent threats, worldwide developments and emerging technology solutions.

Mobile Spam and Fraud Events
Airwide’s Mark Hopper is interviewed for the second in our series of mobile security podcasts. Hopper explores the threat and impact of mobile spam and fraud events using examples from around the world.

Mobile Security in Africa

By Rob Mathot, Airwide Solutions

Africa is the world’s fastest growing mobile region, with well over 400 million connections, served by over 100 operators, and cellular connection growing at around 30%.  In a market growing at this rate, the issues come to the fore as quickly as the significant opportunities, and one of those issues is mobile security – mobile handset theft, fraud, message spamming, spoofing and flooding, and viral attack.

In Africa, the mobile phone is often the primary means of communication and, in some cases, the only means; the device is of the utmost value to those users.  And where the mobile takes on an increased importance as the only communications tool available – for activities such as mobile banking and payments as is the case throughout Africa – it becomes even more of an imperative for the operator to protect the handset and the user from mobile security threats.  With mobile handsets increasingly being used to access private and valuable data, users can become a target of fraudulent spam and spoof messages, much like the fraudulent email messages received by users of internet banking.

Operators are now meeting the growing challenge of mobile threats head-on by putting in place sophisticated AntiSpam and content filtering systems that can identify and corral spam.  And this benefits customers and the operator’s customers - the impact of SMS fraud can degrade network performance and quality of service (QoS), resulting in loss of revenue and increased customer churn.   And spam can damage an operator’s very business at its core;  an operator that freely passes spam through their network can risk having SMS and voice traffic blocked by other operators protecting themselves from potentially dangerous traffic.

When evaluating AntiSpam solutions, operators should consider the following key features:

• Source Validation
• Address Parameter Validation
• Flooding Control
• OTA Blocking
• Virus-Download Prevention
• Content Scanning

Operators are now making the infrastructure investment to control these problems, recognizing that mobile threats are most efficiently and successfully controlled at the mobile network level.  AntiSpam technology provides protection against all forms of abuse, enabling operators to safeguard their networks, subscribers and revenues.
Rob Mathot, Regional Director – Sub-Saharan Africa, Airwide Solutions

Partner Spotlight: Sentry Wireless

Airwide is pleased to announce that Sentry Wireless has joined the Airwide Solution Partners program. 

Sentry Wireless is a provider of patented firewall technology for SIM and handsets, and helps Airwide to expand our mobile security offerings for wireless operators. Under terms of the agreement, Sentry will join the Airwide Solution Partner Program and Airwide will integrate Sentry Wireless’ SpamGuard mobile security product into its AirGuard AntiSpam suite providing mobile operators with an end-to-end, network-to-handset solution for guarding against spam, viruses, spoof, malware, fraud and phishing

The recent iPhone SMS hacking scandal is the latest in a string of high profile mobile security breaches that demonstrate the vulnerability of mobile devices, particularly high-end smartphones, to malicious attacks that target users’ private data and threaten an operator’s brand.  With the opening up of networks to third party applications and the mobile Web, as well as the market shift toward bundled SMS, subscribers must be protected from fraudulent parties and unwanted content.  In response to these increasing threats, Airwide and its security Solution Partners offer mobile operators an integrated, network-to-handset anti-spam solutions that shield subscribers from unwanted or dangerous messages and keep costs and potential churn down for operators.

By analyzing and monitoring all messaging traffic on the network regardless of its point of origin, Airwide’s AirGuard AntiSpam protects against attacks originating from inside and outside the home network.  Now with the integration of Sentry Wireless’ SpamGuard technology, operators will also be able to offer a mobile device client that allows subscribers to report spam via a single click. Reports are logged in a central reporting system where spam classification is performed and propagated to enforcement points in the network.  This enhanced security offering is fully integrated and supported globally by Airwide and governed by the company’s standard Service Level Agreement.