In recent months, spam traffic has undergone significant changes, becoming more sophisticated and adaptive. Skyward, a developer of fraud detection and blocking solutions, analyzes these trends to help operators better protect their networks.
The Evolution of Spam: New Tactics Emerging
Spammers are actively expanding their reach: spam is now being detected in regions where it was previously uncommon. Additionally, new sources have emerged, including aggregators that were not previously associated with such risks.
Key changes in distribution methods:
- Shift in contact points: Instead of including fraudulent links in SMS, attackers are increasingly providing phone numbers to trick victims into calling back.
- Concatenated messages: Spammers are increasingly using concatenated SMS, making it more difficult for SMS firewalls to analyze the complete message content.
- New "infected" areas: Spammers are expanding their operations across multiple continents, including previously unaffected parts of Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
- Smarter approaches: Spam campaigns have become less massive but more targeted, often mimicking legitimate messages.
AIT Traffic: Two General Scenarios
Unlike spam, artificial inflation of traffic (AIT) has not shown major fluctuations but remains challenging to detect. We categorize it into two types:
The volume of detected AIT depends not only on system improvements but also on market trends and new players entering the space.
- "External" inflation – Traffic from non-enterprise partners. Easier to detect due to anomalies, such as new markets or unusual message types (e.g., bulk OTPs).
- "Internal" inflation – Traffic from enterprise partners, blended with legitimate traffic. It mirrors normal user behavior, requiring advanced detection algorithms.
The volume of detected AIT depends not only on system improvements but also on market trends and new players entering the space.
Skyward Enhances Protection
Skyward consistently enhances its solution algorithms to keep pace with evolving fraud methods. By staying one step ahead, we ensure operators can effectively combat fraud while reducing false positives.
We are pleased to offer SMS providers free one-month trials of both Skyward SMS Antifraud (for spam protection) and Artificial Traffic Detector (for AIT prevention). Stay tuned for updates – together, we will make SMS channels more secure!