Etisalat to take swift action against growing menace of Internet spam

Etisalat is devising new technological solutions to combat the growing menace of phoney e-mails (spam) and is stepping up its awareness campaign to protect Internet users.

Criminal hackers continue to target unsuspecting customers of banks with fake e-mails, the latest being HSBC, after Citibank and Barclays.

Etisalat officials say they are aware of the spam or brand spoofing, and the danger it poses, hence swift action is being taken.

"Currently we are working towards developing technical solutions, a Net spam solution to reduce spam, if not eliminate it," said Abdullah Hashim, senior manager of eCompany, Etisalat's Internet services and total solutions business unit.

"We are evaluating various technologies, and in the next quarter it should be ready," he told Gulf News.

Hashim said the new wave of spam is extremely dangerous due to the criminal or fraudulent intent of hackers to obtain financial information by "masquerading" websites or messages.
It is easy to set up such websites but difficult to trace them.

"People run such websites for a day, capture information from about 100 people and then close down the website.

"People can be conned easily because the e-mails seem to be genuine although they are not."
Etisalat, he said, has been educating the public about spam.

"We are planning to run a continuous awareness campaign on spam. Also, the new solutions can reduce it but may not be able to completely eliminate it. We are working on a solution that would stop spam mail from reaching the mailboxes of users."

Meanwhile, a Dubai resident pointed out yet another fraudulent attempt to obtain bank details, this time believed to involve HSBC.

The sender, customersupport@hsbc.co.uk, stated: "Due to a technical update, we recommend you to reactivate your account and click on the link below to log in and using your updated HSBC account.

"To log into your account, visit the online banking http://hsbac.co.uk/"

An HSBC spokesman emphasised that the bank never asks its customers for information. "For Internet banking, we make it clear how they (customers) should use the ATM, credit card, their PIN numbers," he said.

"Even if our systems crash, we have back-up information about our customers," he said, adding customers are regularly warned about such scams.

Similar cases have been reported involving Citibank and Barclays in the recent past when customers were targeted by criminal hackers through fake websites.