Since implementing its new SMS filter in April, Telstra has worked wonders in protecting users. Wonders to the tune of over 185 million text messages and over 200 million scam calls — since 2021 — that haven’t reached potential victims.
The number of blocked messages alone works out to around 1500 per minute or a staggering 25 per second. We’re all familiar with the types of texts that are being blocked:
- Amazon account renewal
- Package delivery delays
- You have a new voicemail
- Lost/stolen/damaged bank cards or compromised accounts
and unfortunately, the scammers are getting smarter, so this isn’t a bulletproof solution. You’ll still need to be aware of these and think twice before clicking any links, as well as utilising available tools on your device to protect yourself.
Telstra Chief Information Security Officer Narelle Devine said:
The actual capability is complex and it’s constantly evolving. In simple terms, we’re applying knowledge of what the scam messages look like to block them at a network level. So we have automatic machine scanning and it picks out suspicious content such as malicious links and other characteristics like time, sender and recipient; so if a message looks suspicious we’ll block it before it reaches you.
Telstra is renowned for having the best network coverage of the big three in Australia, with further resources like this available to customers of their network (including MNVO) they’re building trust too.
