Messaging Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG) and Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) Join Forces to Address Global Internet and Security Issues

Brea, Calif., December 19, 2022 – The two groups plan to combine forces to develop and train abuse desk and incident response teams in best practices of Domain Name Systems (DNS) abuse and incident response. Based on data from ICANN, DNS abuse remains a huge issue that threatens the safety and security of the Internet.

Experts in both groups also will collaborate on how to protect organizations and users from online abuse and messaging spam. The groups will also examine additional topics they can tackle, including potentially online abuse topics and related policy and emerging issues in security.

“We strongly support the mission of FIRST as it relates to the ongoing mission of M3AAWG to protect users and organizations from messaging abuse, malware and other security issues, and we look forward to collaborating and sharing expertise to amplify our efforts,” said M3AAWG Executive Director Amy Cadigan.

“The combination of our group’s focus on messaging abuse and incident response complements the deep expertise in M3AAWG on messaging, mobile abuse and online safety, and we look forward to sharing our knowledge to develop practitioners and help protect users and companies,” said Chris Gibson, FIRST executive director. Based on its mission to fight online abuse, M3AAWG has worked on a number of issues related to protecting users online; recent guidance includes an objectionable content takedown template, protecting parked domains and brand domain protection. These and more best practices can be found at https://www.m3aawg.org/published-documents.

About 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 members represent 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. M3AAWG is driven by market needs and supported by major network operators and messaging providers.

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About FIRST

FIRST aspires to bring together incident response and security teams from every country across the world to ensure a safe internet for all. Founded in 1990, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) consists of internet emergency response teams from over 600 corporations, government bodies, universities and other institutions across 100 countries in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania.

For more information, visit: www.first.org

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