Globe using new tool to fight text spam

MANILA, Philippines – Globe Telecom is stepping up its campaign against unwanted text advertisements – more commonly known as spam – by taking advantage of a new tool to automatically curb the errant messages.

In a statement, Globe said the project – estimated to cost $4 million – involves a new hardware and software solution that uses complex anti-spam algorithms.

Globe says the tool has increased the daily average of blocked messages from 17,000 to 300,000. Globe’s statement did not elaborate on the possibility of false positives – actual texts which may have been filtered out by the tool as a spam message. 

The platform, which was done in partnership with tech company Xura, has the capacity to filter up to 1 billion spam texts daily.

The move from Globe seeks to lessen the amount of election-related spam that is bound to make inroads into people’s phones this coming election season.

Anton Bonifacio, Globe’s Chief Information Security Officer, added: “The establishment of a new mechanism to block the transmittal of these messages brings us a step closer to having a spam-free network. Globe will never allow the use of its network by individuals who want to take advantage of our customers.”

“As Globe steps up its campaign to purge its network of spam and scam messages, we expect this number to increase further moving forward,” Bonifacio went on to say. – Rappler.com

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