Mobile security company AdaptiveMobile has designed an app that operators could offer to their customers to allow them to report spam messages, and block the senders.
Ciaran Bradley, VP Handset Security, said that the company wants to give users more ability to block and report spam, and operators the means to gain a wider view of the spam messages that users are experiencing on their network.
In time, Bradley would like to see operators share information on spam messages with each other, so that knowledge can be shared across the industry. He said that AdaptiveMobile see the app working “to complement” the GSMA’s pilot Spam Reporting Service (powered by Cloudmark), but also that it adds user controls to the SRS’ quite operator-centric approach.
“It’s not competitive to the SRS,” Bradley said, “it’s just another way of doing it.”
The app will be made available for operators to offer through their own portals and channels to users, rather than for wider download. All the major OS are support, apart from iOS. Bradley said this is because the security architecture on Apple devices would not allow the app to function with the “richness” AdaptiveMobile would like.
Bradley said AdaptiveMobile would offer the app free to operators for operators to brand as they see fit. Adaptive’s main business is as a provider of network-level security solutions to mobile operators — by giving operators a crowd-sourced, broader view of SMS spam attacks, the company aims to help operators tailor their network protection solutions to match current and future threats.
How the app works
A user installs the app. Then every time that user receives a message from a sender who is not already in their address book, a prompt will appear asking that user if they want to report that user for spam, delete the message and block that user from sending any more messages. AdaptiveMobile hopes that it will provide a one click way for users to build their own black lists.