All too frequently, companies look to their IT security
managers to solve their spam problems.
But spam is not a security issue and should not be a matter of
central control, according to Les Fraser, deputy chairman of the
British Computer Society's security expert panel.
Writing for the Computer Weekly Infosecurity User Group's website,
Fraser argued that the spam debate has delivered little of
substance and questioned what all the fuss was about.
"Various figures quoted suggest that more than 40% of all e-mail
traffic is spam. But what does the term mean?" he said.
"If spam is defined as unsolicited e-mail, then most e-mail is
unsolicited, in practice. If spam is advertising e-mail, then since
when was advertising a crime? If spam is whatever you as an
individual want to complain about, that is an entirely different,
and quite subjective definition."
Fraser concluded that spam is not a matter for IT security
chiefs.
"Although there is a need for debate on the ethics of use/abuse
of technology, I do not see that spam is a security issue, nor is a
matter for bureaucratic control," he said.
What is the CW Infosecurity Group?
Now in its second year, the Computer Weekly Infosecurity User Group
is a joint venture by Computer Weekly; Reed Exhibitions, which runs
the annual Infosecurity exhibition and conference; and Elsevier
Science, which runs the annual Compsec IT security conference and
publishes security-related journals.
The CWIUG is a free of charge network for anyone with IT
security responsibility in a UK IT user organisation - it is not
intended for those in the supplier or consultancy
communities.
The regular meetings, usually with corporate IT security
managers talking on issues chosen by CWIUG members, are held under
strict confidentiality rules. The CWIUG also has an informal
relationship with the British Computer Society to keep each other
up-to-date with each organisation's activities.
www.cwiug.com