FTC targets spam

The Federal Trade Commission is taking a hard look at the next generation of spam and what companies can do to fight the impact of malicious emails and phishing. In a new report called "The Next Generation of Threats and Solutions," the FTC said that Internet service providers' spam filters are essential to reducing the amount of spam that gets into a user's inbox.

The FTC is looking at spam and other malware as a consumer problem. It is fielding an increasing number of Internet, telemarketing, identity theft and other fraud-related complaints. While the problem is growing, panelists at a recent summit said there are an increasing number of software solutions that can be employed to stop spam in its tracks. These include email authentication and email reputation services. And panelists at the summit also underscored the importance of educating both consumers and businesses to detect and hunt down spam attacks.

While the FTC can do little to shut down all these malicious attacks, summit panelists said the actions of these spammers are inherently criminal, and criminal law enforcement agencies, across the board, should be shutting them down. The FTC's Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database, is available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the United States and abroad. While the problem has not yet been solved, there are ways to fight a problem that is growing, not shrinking, in cyberspace.

To read more about the FTC's efforts to fight spam:
- See this agency report