Senate Proposes Anti SMS Spam Bill, Pentagon Spends Millions on Cybersecurity
Spam is first and foremost annoying; but besides the nuisance factor, it is also a security threat – email spam messages can lead you to malware spreading sites or to phishing sites; SMS spam can scam you out of your money, or can be costly for your business (see Wal-Mart SMS spam example here). The US Senate has recognized the fact that SMS spam is getting out of hand and is gearing up to do something about it.
A couple of US Senators have proposed a new piece of legislation that could spell the end for SMS spam. The bill proposes that all wireless customers that are listed in the Do Not Call List provided by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) should be protected from SMS spam. Spam SMS messages are thus specifically banned, which is good news considering the fact that the 2003 Can-Spam Act did not take SMS spamming into consideration when it was passed by Congress.
Republican Senator Olympia Snowe comments: “Mobile spam invades both a consumer's cell phone and monthly bill. This significant and looming threat must be addressed in order to protect consumers and vital wireless services.” If the name “Snowe” ring a bell, it is because the same Senator called for the naming of a national cybersecurity adviser (details here). And speaking of cybersecurity, it has come to light that the Pentagon has spent $100 million over the past 6 months on repairing damage caused by cyber attacks and responding to the aforementioned attacks. According to Army Brig. Gen. John Davis, the money went towards manpower, computer technology, contractors, cleaning up messes caused by internal mistakes and external attacks.
Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, head of the U.S. Strategic Command, comments: “The important thing is that we recognize that we are under assault from the least sophisticated — what I would say the bored teenager — all the way up to the sophisticated nation-state, with some pretty criminal elements sandwiched in-between. This is indeed our big challenge, as we think about how to defend it.”
A couple of US Senators have proposed a new piece of legislation that could spell the end for SMS spam. The bill proposes that all wireless customers that are listed in the Do Not Call List provided by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) should be protected from SMS spam. Spam SMS messages are thus specifically banned, which is good news considering the fact that the 2003 Can-Spam Act did not take SMS spamming into consideration when it was passed by Congress.
Republican Senator Olympia Snowe comments: “Mobile spam invades both a consumer's cell phone and monthly bill. This significant and looming threat must be addressed in order to protect consumers and vital wireless services.” If the name “Snowe” ring a bell, it is because the same Senator called for the naming of a national cybersecurity adviser (details here). And speaking of cybersecurity, it has come to light that the Pentagon has spent $100 million over the past 6 months on repairing damage caused by cyber attacks and responding to the aforementioned attacks. According to Army Brig. Gen. John Davis, the money went towards manpower, computer technology, contractors, cleaning up messes caused by internal mistakes and external attacks.
Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, head of the U.S. Strategic Command, comments: “The important thing is that we recognize that we are under assault from the least sophisticated — what I would say the bored teenager — all the way up to the sophisticated nation-state, with some pretty criminal elements sandwiched in-between. This is indeed our big challenge, as we think about how to defend it.”
