The South Korean government, in collaboration with the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association (KTOA) and the three major mobile carriers, has announced the launch of an ‘Illegal Spam Number Blocking System’ starting on the 17th to combat illegal spam text messages. This system will verify the validity of sender numbers in real time and block messages sent from invalid numbers.
The Ministry of Science and ICT and KTOA developed the system as a follow-up measure to the ‘Comprehensive Strategy for Preventing Illegal Spam’ announced last November. Previously, verification required account registration, but now messaging service providers can continuously monitor and block accounts linked to invalid numbers.
In addition to this system, the ministry has also established standards requiring international messaging service providers to comply with the same legal and technical obligations as domestic providers for overseas-originated bulk messages. Google’s Enhanced Fraud Protection (EFP) has also been introduced to block installation of malicious code on mobile devices that bypassed initial blocking stages.
Director Choi Woo-hyuk of the Network Policy Division at the Ministry of Science and ICT expressed confidence that the new system will significantly reduce illegal spam and related phishing crimes, and pledged continued policy efforts to prevent such activities.