Tag Archives: Paul Whiteing
UK mobile industry acts with PhonepayPlus against mobile malware
Rating: Sadly, PhonepayPlus’ own helpline is, in itself, a rip off
The UK’s regulator for premium rate telephone services (PRS), PhonepayPlus, has hosted a summit which brought together all the key elements of the country’s mobile industry. This included Internet security experts, law enforcement bodies and activist body – GetSafeOnline. The aim was to tackle the emerging threat of PRS malware attacks on smartphones. Participants at the summit agreed to take steps to develop greater intelligence sharing between industry players. The aim is to increase early detection of mobile malware attacks. Continue reading
Posted in mobile security
Tagged Get Safe Online, Paul Whiteing, PhonepayPlus, Tony Neate
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Maybe PhonepayPlus has got something to hide
Rating: Watchdog still hasn’t learnt how to bite, though
Usually when you put out a Press release on 22nd December [2011] at 5.45 pm which says it has an “embargo 00.01 am 27 December 2011″, then the issuer is definitely trying to bury some news. (See here). PhonepayPlus did this very thing but try as hard as we could, we couldn’t see anything in the information which needed to be hidden. But – and this is a big but – the regulator is still displaying a remarkable lack of courage in trying to control the industry is has been put in charge of. Basically that’s the Premium Rate SMS sector. Now, it’s very laudable that PhonepayPlus has sponsored the PhoneBrain social enterprise competition challenges for 11 – 19 year olds. The finalists will present their ideas in January to a panel of industry experts at ITV’s London headquarters. ITV, eh? Isn’t that the TV company which perpetrated some of the worse cases of premium rate fraud (here). Yup, it is. Who’s the compere? Gary Glitter? Continue reading
Posted in Premium rate text, mobile security
Tagged Avast, Bullguard, F-Secure, Kaspersky, McAfee, Microsoft, Paul Whiteing, PhonepayPlus’, Sophos, Symantec, Trend
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UK watchdog aims to counter threats from apps
Rating:mBlox fined for aiding Battery Booster UK scam
The UK’s regulator of premium rate telephone services (PRS), PhonepayPlus, has acted to tackle hidden threats to consumers from apps on smartphones.The watchdog is primarily concerned about apps which maliciously charge consumers without their knowledge or consent. Hence – in order to protect the digital and m-commerce markets (as well as the interests of consumers) – Phonepayplus has been consulting with industry stakeholders. It has now come up with a series of key recommendations. Paul Whiteing, PhonepayPlus’ CEO, commented, “We know that the best regulation is one that works collaboratively with industry to pre-empt before problems occur that harm consumers and damage markets.” Sadly, industry stalwart – mBlox – managed to perpetuate one of the worst instances of app malware so far. Continue reading
Posted in Mobile applications, mobile security
Tagged andrew bud, Battery Booster UK, malware, mblox, Paul Whiteing, PhonepayPlus, PRS, regulator
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PhonepayPlus launches new code for PRS
Rating: Can now regulate every part of the PRS value-chain
The UK regulator for premium rate telephone services (PRS), PhonepayPlus, has finally announced the publication of a new code of practice for the PRS industry. The code will come into force on September 1st 2011. Significantly, for the first time, PhonepayPlus will directly regulate every single part of the PRS value-chain. It claims that this will enable it to better regulate what it calls the “minority of providers” who bring the whole industry into disrepute. UK consumers are frustrated by the fact that constant re-offenders are frequently big names in the business who are fined insignificant amounts. Continue reading
Posted in Premium rate text, mobile payments
Tagged Code of Practice, Paul Whiteing, PhonepayPlus, premium rate SMS
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