Cloudmark, Inc., a provider of carrier-grade messaging security, announced that it has joined the GSM Association (GSMA), the body that represents the worldwide mobile communications industry.

The GSMA is spread across 219 countries and its membership is comprised of 750 of the world’s mobile operators, as well as 200 companies.

“As mobile spam and malware continue to rise rapidly around the world, the industry needs to work together to implement the necessary measures to combat these threats,” stated Hugh McCartney, chief executive officer of Cloudmark, in a release. “The GSMA provides a collaborative and influential industry body that drives progress in the mobile industry, and Cloudmark is proud to have joined its membership. We look forward to contributing our messaging security knowledge to help shape the industry agenda and more importantly, create a safer mobile phone environment for users worldwide. As a seasoned messaging security provider across a wide range of industries, Cloudmark understands what will become critical in the protection against mobile messaging threats and abuse.”

“As a provider of carrier-grade security solutions, Cloudmark lends a unique perspective on the necessary steps the industry must take to safeguard mobile messaging,” added Michael O’Hara, chief marketing officer of the GSMA. “The GSMA continues to explore measures for protecting mobile carriers and their customers from increasing abuse and threats, and we look forward to working with Cloudmark in this important endeavor.”

Messaging security poses a growing challenge to the mobile industry as operators seek to provide rich content, applications and services to their subscribers. Factors such as the continued expansion of mobile messaging, reductions in message delivery costs, inherent network vulnerabilities and new mobile marketing initiatives have become conducive for attackers. Also, the accessibility and financial gain for mobile spammers is increasing with introduction of unlimited messaging plans, the proliferation of open networks, smarter devices and the rise of mobile applications.

Cloudmark conducts continuous technology research and provides carrier-grade mobile messaging security solutions to protect operators and subscribers from the costs and problems of mobile messaging abuse.

Cloudmark Authority for Mobile is suited to block all categories of mobile threats, from email originated attacks to attacks coming from within the mobile network. It uses Advanced Message Fingerprinting together with updated feedback from Cloud mark’s Global Threat Network system to precisely identify mobile messaging abuse. Cloudmark Authority for Mobile's content filtering goes beyond traditional protocol level controls that counteract signaling fraud to also catch more sophisticated off-network attacks and on-network abuse, such as those perpetrated through cloned SIM cards, mobile bonnets and low-cost prepaid accounts.