Industry Collaborates to Reduce Online Fraud; Groups Co-Author Anti-Phishing Best Practices

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Expanding industry efforts to combat e-crime, the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) and the Anti- Phishing Working Group (APWG) have jointly outlined preliminary best practices aimed at eradicating online fraud. The efforts of over 150 companies from ten countries went into the draft recommendations for enhancing security against fraud at both network operators and the companies that distribute information online during the groups' first collaborative meeting in Montreal on Nov. 8- 10.

The joint anti-phishing symposium was held in conjunction with the 5th MAAWG General Meeting. During the MAAWG-only sessions, members also approved best practice recommendations for Port 25 management (details will be discussed in a separate news release), reviewed ongoing MAAWG anti-spam and anti-virus efforts, and elected new Board officers.

Industry's Largest Unite against Online Fraud

The joint sessions of the two organizations brought the APWG members from global financial institutions, law enforcement agencies and regulators, credit card companies and other organizations that depend on trusted online channels to serve their customers together with MAAWG members, including some of the industry's largest Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and network operators. The participants were from Asia, Australia, Canada, South America, Europe and the United States.

The new anti-phishing draft documents address: 1) recommended best practices for ISPs and mailbox operators to reduce exposure to fraudulent email and Web sites, and 2) best practices for financial institutions, businesses, online marketers and others needing to securely distribute trusted information via email and through the Web. Both APWG and MAAWG are accepting members' comments on the drafts and will make the final best practices available to the public after they are approved by both organizations. The documents are targeted for general industry distribution and use midyear 2006.

MAAWG is the only organization of network operators, service providers and technology vendors working together globally to end messaging abuse. APWG is a worldwide coalition focusing on "phishing;" that is, the use of illegitimate e-mails and impostor Web sites to fool recipients into divulging personal financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords or social security numbers. The two working groups also agreed to share information on known spam and e-crime abusers, and to work together in educating the public on secure online procedures.

The MAAWG meeting opened with a keynote address by Michael Binder, assistant deputy minister of the Department of Industry Canada. International policy makers and regulators, including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Canada's Spam Task Force and the Competition Bureau of Canada continued the dialogue on emerging public policy issues related to phishing and spam control.

MAAWG to Continue Aggressive Attack on Abuse

In addition to the anti-phishing work, MAAWG-specific sessions focused on the industry's response to zombie threats, wireless abuse, online marketers' needs and metrics policies, among other topics. Newly elected officers positioned the organization to continue its work:

* Jonathan Curtis, Bell Canada, was elected 2006 chairman of the board of directors, supported by vice chairs Charles Stiles from AOL and Kevin Wagner from Openwave Systems. Laurie Jill Wood, Charter Communications, is treasurer. * Stiles also chairs the Collaboration Committee with co-chair Mary Youngblood from Earthlink. Technical Committee co-chairs are J.D. Falk from Yahoo! and Sam Silberman from Openwave Systems. Suzanne Morin, Bell Canada, and Luc Mathan, France Telecom, co-chair Public Policy. * Daniel Dreymann, Goodmail Systems, co-chairs MAAWG's Anti-Phishing Special Interest Group. Dreymann is the liaison with APWG and coordinated the joint sessions in Montreal. About the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG)

The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) is where the messaging industry comes together to work against spam, viruses, denial-of-service attacks and other online exploitation. MAAWG (http://www.maawg.org/) is the only organization addressing messaging abuse holistically by systematically engaging all aspects of the problem, including technology, industry collaboration and public policy. It leverages the depth and experience of its global membership to tackle abuse on existing networks and new emerging services. Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., MAAWG is an open forum driven by market needs and supported by major network operators and messaging providers.

About the Anti-Phishing Work Group

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) is the world's largest and most heterogeneous counter-e-crime association with some 2,000 members from industry, government, law enforcement, academia and consumer groups worldwide. The APWG is currently focused on eliminating phishing and email spoofing attacks by developing and sharing information about the problem and promoting the visibility and adoption of industry solutions. Membership in the group is open to qualified financial institutions, corporations, law enforcement agencies, public policy groups and solution vendors. The organization's Web site (http://www.antiphishing.org/) serves as a public and industry resource for information about the problem of phishing and email fraud, including identification and promotion of pragmatic technical solutions that can provide immediate protection and benefits against phishing attacks.

MAAWG Sponsors (Board, of Directors): America Online; Bell Canada; BellSouth ; Charter Communications ; Cingular Wireless ; Cloudmark; Comcast ; Cox Communications ; EarthLink ; France Telecom; Goodmail Systems; Openwave Systems ; Swisscom Fixnet, AG LTD; Verizon Communications; and Yahoo!

MAAWG Full Members: Cablevision; Cisco Systems, Inc.; Internet Initiative Japan, (IIJ Nasdaq: IIJI); IronPort Systems; MX Logic; Sprint; Sun Microsystems, Inc.; Symantec; and Verisign, Inc.

MAAWG Supporters: Adknowledge, Inc.; Bizanga, LTD; Checkfree Corp.; CheetahMail, An Experian Co.; Cincinnati Bell; Constant Contact; Critical Path, Inc.; DoubleClick, Inc.; e-Dialog; Epsilon Interactive; Fortinet, Inc.; Habeas, Inc.; Messagelabs; NetVision, LLC; Nextel Communications; Omniti Computer Consulting, Inc.; Perftech, Inc.; Pivotal; Plala Networks Inc.; Return Path, Inc.; RPost; Sendmail; Singlefin; Skylist, Inc.; StrongMail Systems, Inc.; TDC; TDS Telecom; Trend Micro, Inc.; Uptilt, Inc.; Word To The Wise; and Yesmail

Contact: Linda Marcus, APR, 714-974-6356 lmarcus@astra.cc, Astra Communications