The top 12 mobile phone operators in Europe are not doing enough to protect users from mobile spam, according to a survey released by message security vendor Cloudmark.
All 12 of the operators quizzed said that they expected mobile spam volumes to rise as adoption of mobile social networking and mobile email increases. However, only 16% are giving thought to the best way to guard against spam through mobile internet and email.
A quarter of those surveyed said that budgets do not stretch to implementing a solution to the issue and 25% said the problem was not big enough to justify investigating further.
Neil Cook, head of technology services EMEA, Cloudmark, said: “This reactive tactic may prove costly for operators striving to maintain low levels of customer churn. As the problem grows beyond simple spam attacks to identity theft, phishing and fraud, customer safety will decrease, exacerbating dissatisfaction and churn. Without providing additional messaging security now, mobile operators will unnecessarily put their customers and businesses at risk.”
The use of mobile messaging is continuing to rise and users are experiencing an increase in the number of unsolicited messages sent to their mobiles, according to the report. Mobile operators quizzed admitted that up to 20% of their users are affected by mobile SMS spam but 83% do not have any filtering process in place to prevent its effects on customers.
Cook said: “It’s imperative mobile operators take all spam seriously and implement security solutions now to prevent losing customers. In a related survey we conducted earlier this year, two thirds of customers would consider leaving their mobile network due to spam. So, the threat of losing customers as a result of increased spam is one that providers should take seriously.”
