SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 10/03/12 -- High ranking U.S. officials will discuss the administration's cybersecurity policies at the October M3AAWG general meeting with U.S. Department of State Ambassador Phil Verveer addressing proposals to add cybersecurity to the International Telecommunications Regulations and Senior Policy Advisor Ari Schwartz focusing on the government's promotion of industry best practices. Other topics at the Baltimore meeting of the Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group will include expert panels on sharing industry data to protect consumers, botnet issues, current mobile threats and other anti-abuse issues.

The keynotes come at a time when the 193 country members of the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) will review its role in overseeing network security at the December 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications and the administration is drafting an executive order on cybersecurity. A third keynote by John Hopkins University's Dr. Stephen Checkoway will look at online voting security.

M3AAWG is also hosting key technology leaders from the academic community at the meeting to discuss how they can work with the industry against cybercrime and online risks. In another session, the CERT® Program will discuss a pilot program for sharing indicators of malicious activity among M3AAWG members.

The 26th M3AAWG General Meeting in Baltimore, Md., on Oct. 22-24 is one of three meetings M3AAWG holds each year, including an annual European event. In addition, M3AAWG is also presenting a special one-day workshop in New Delhi, India, on Fighting Spam and Bots. The workshop is a private meeting on Oct. 29 preceding the EastWest Institute's 3rd World Cybersecurity Summit (http://cybersummit2012.com/).

"M3AAWG works hard to reach out to the international community and to include all the varied players in the online ecosystem. In today's world, where communications move seamlessly across national borders, global cooperation and information sharing has proven to be the most effective strategy for securing a safe online experience for users and to safely grow online economies," said Michael O'Reirdan, M3AAWG co-chairman.

Specialized Industry Training, Bot Updates, Mobile Carrier Anti-Abuse Data

The Baltimore meeting kicks-off Oct. 22 with the most varied day of specialized training sessions the organization has offered with instruction on malware, network management and sender issues. A pioneer in operational security reaction teams and previous Internet Systems Consortium president, Barry Greene will teach a course on how service providers can help subscribers safely remove malware. Industry Canada Senior Policy Advisor for Spam, Cryptography and Cybercrime Andre Leduc and lawyer Shaun Brown will discuss regulations related to the Canadian Anti-Spam Act of 2010 (CASL) that affect all marketers delivering email to Canada. Other training courses will look at implementing the emerging anti-phishing standard DMARC, gathering abuse intelligence, spambot farming and running incident response exercises.

Among the sessions focusing on mobile issues, experts will talk about current malware threats, SMS sender practices and sharing mobile operator information. Messaging topics will include an update on Adober Gang spam, IPv6 abuse issues, criminal networks and takedowns, and malicious browser extensions. Best practice development work will focus on processes to allow service providers to share compromised account data, educating mobile users on safe operations, and administrating spam traps.

About the Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG)

The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG) is where the industry comes together to work against bots, malware, spam, viruses, denial-of-service attacks and other online exploitation. M3AAWG (www.m3aawg.org) represents more than one billion mailboxes from some of the largest network operators worldwide. It leverages the depth and experience of its global membership to tackle abuse on existing networks and new emerging services through technology, collaboration and public policy. It also works to educate global policy makers on the technical and operational issues related to online abuse and messaging. Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., M3AAWG is an open forum driven by market needs and supported by major network operators and messaging providers.

M3AAWG Board of Directors: AT&T (NYSE: T); Cloudmark, Inc.; Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA); Constant Contact (NASDAQ: CTCT); Cox Communications; Damballa, Inc.; Eloqua; Facebook; France Telecom (NYSE and Euronext: FTE); La Caixa; Message Bus; PayPal; Return Path; Time Warner Cable; Verizon Communications; and Yahoo! Inc.

M3AAWG Full Members: 1&1 Internet AG; Adaptive Mobile Security LTD; Adobe Systems Inc.; AOL; BAE Systems Detica; Cisco Systems, Inc.; Dynamic Network Services Inc.; Email Sender and Provider Coalition; Experian CheetahMail; Genius.com; iContact; Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ NASDAQ: IIJI); McAfee Inc.; Message Systems; Mimecast; Proofpoint (everyone.net); Scality; Spamhaus; Sprint; Symantec; Trend Micro, Inc.; and Twitter.

A complete member list is available at http://www.m3aawg.org/about/roster.

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