South African Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) members are responding faster than ever before to complaints about spam and phishing attempts originating on their networks.
This is according to the findings from a recent series of tests undertaken by ISPA to ensure its members are reacting with haste to abuse reports, both from other Internet service providers (ISPs) and the public.
According to the ISPA code of conduct, all members must have a working, actively monitored abuse address to which customers, other ISPs and Internet users can report issues such as spam and phishing. ISPA says it regularly tests its members' compliance with this clause of the code.
“Testing is done by sending test messages to members' registered abuse addresses, and tracking the responses. When these test messages bounce back or receive either no response or a slow response from the ISPA members concerned, those members are deemed to be non-compliant with the association's code of conduct. A lack of a registered abuse address is also a violation of the code of conduct.
“ISPA takes the fight against spam and phishing very seriously, because [such intrusions] result in a higher cost base for ISPs and higher costs, security risks and a degraded experience for the end-user.”
ISPA's code of conduct further states the organisation's members must not send or promote the sending of unsolicited bulk e-mail and must “take reasonable measures to ensure that their networks are not used by others for this purpose.
“Members are also compelled to provide a facility for dealing with complaints regarding unsolicited bulk e-mail and unsolicited commercial communications originating from their networks, as well as to react quickly to any complaints they receive.”
ISPA says the results of the recent test show a dramatic improvement in the responsiveness of ISPA members to complaints sent to their abuse addresses. “Fifty percent of ISPA members responded within one hour to abuse reports, compared to 37% towards the end of 2010.
“Some 63% responded within five hours (48% in the previous study), and in total, 71% had responded to the test e-mails. The final total was actually a 76% response rate (119 of ISPA's 156 members) because 10 members registered a failed delivery and 27 simply did not respond to the test.”
Only 1% of members had no registered address compared to 11% as per the preceding compliance testing.
ISPA GM Ant Brooks says the regular compliance tests the organisation undertakes help to keep members on their toes. “The few that have still not fully complied with the code's prescriptions around abuse reports have been warned that they are not meeting ISPA's requirements, and asked to boost their service as soon as possible.
“Working abuse addresses are global best practice and are expected from all ISPA members.”
He concludes that ISPA will continue to monitor its members in the months to come.
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