New mobile phone threats make it crucial for mobile operators to protect their customers

According to LogicaCMG, the leading telecoms provider in the areas of intuitive messaging, intelligent charging, content enablement and customer intelligence management, SMiShing is the mobile text message equivalent of computer phishing attacks, where users are tricked into handing over valuable private information or persuaded to go to fake websites where spyware and other malicious programmes can be downloaded.

Nabil Y. Khalil, director, telecoms at LogicaCMG in the Middle East and North Africa, said:

"Mobile spam and viruses present distinct threats from their internet-based equivalents and require a different approach to prevent and control them. Mobile operators worldwide have a big role to play in protecting subscribers from SMiShing."

SMiShing basically takes a "social engineering" approach to spam, in that it attempts to take advantage of a subscribers' lack of knowledge. This variation of spam does not directly attack handsets like a virus would. The hackers responsible for it are financially driven to exploit legal loopholes and the latest technologies to get hold of personal data. Recent attacks have included false online dating subscriptions and job offers via SMS, asking users to go to websites to unsubscribe the service.

"The good news is that, by its nature, a knowledgeable user can avoid the attack entirely. By recognising the message for what it is, and ignoring the instructions, any threat is immediately defused," added Khalil.

But Khalil also commented: "Ensuring that users have this knowledge is an opportunity for mobile operators in the Middle East and North Africa. Like most spam, these messages can be recognised by an operator with the right network tools, and can be labelled upon delivery in such a way that a warning arrives on the handset at the same time as the SMiShing message. LogicaCMG's content control solution provides the network security to detect possible spam and can then notify users so that they are fully aware of the content within the message. This is done by inserting warning text at the start of a message, thus providing the necessary information for the user to be able to make an informed decision."

With increasing numbers of internet enabled handsets on the market, protection of the user is becoming increasingly important. The mobile phone is fast becoming the hub of much more than simple peer-to-peer (P2P) communication, and the role of the mobile operator as guardian of the customer experience is becoming ever more complex. By stepping up to take on this role, and the responsibilities that come with it, operators are well positioned to not only stem the negative impact of a poor experience (such as churn and damage to brand reputation), but to actually increase revenues as consumer confidence in next generation services grows.