New M3AAWG Leadership Structure Targets Core Online Threats; Berlin Meeting Emphasizes Messaging, Malware, Mobile Abuse

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 04/24/12 -- The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group has expanded its leadership structure to promote work in each of its target areas, intensifying its efforts to drive the industry toward more cooperative efforts to combat online vulnerabilities. The office of the M3AAWG chairman will be shared this year by three co-chairmen, each with specific expertise, and the organization will concentrate on messaging, malware and mobile at its 25th general meeting in Berlin this June.

Michael O'Reirdan with Comcast, who has served as M3AAWG chairman since 2008, will continue as the organization's co-chairman focusing on malware. Alex Bobotek with AT&T is the new M3AAWG co-chairman for mobile and Chris Roosenraad of Time Warner Cable serves as co-chairman for messaging. Bobotek and Roosenraad had served as co-vice chairmen for the past three years and have also held positions as committee chairs.

Michael Adkins and Anthony Purcell, both Board members and former committee chairs, will serve as co-vice chairmen. Jerry Upton continues as the M3AAWG executive director. Known originally as MAAWG, the organization changed its name to M3AAWG, shortened to M3, in February to more directly address the correlation between bots, spam and abuse on both land networks and the growing mobile platform.

Its upcoming multi-track Berlin meeting June 5-7 will emphasize M3-- messaging, malware and mobile -- with keynote Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure and one of the leading authorities in online security, among other speakers. The meeting sessions will include mobile security expert Karsten Nohl of Security Research Labs on mobile hacking, a look at global bot remediation efforts, and discussion of a new bot metrics program being developed in M3AAWG for the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, along with ongoing committee work.