5 Questions for Sven Krohlas, Detection Engineer at Spamhaus Technology

In this interview, Sven Krohlas, Detection Engineer at Spamhaus Technology, discusses the current challenges in Internet security, the importance of data exchange in combating abuse, and the need to hold large industrial corporations more accountable for Internet security.

Mr Krohlas, could you please briefly introduce your company?
Spamhaus is an independent organisation that has been working to strengthen trust and security on the Internet for over 20 years. Through reliable threat data, we provide comprehensive solutions against malware, phishing, botnets and spam. Together with partners such as abuse.ch, we are committed to making cybercrime visible and making the Internet a safer place.

Which digitalisation topics are particularly important to you?
Providing threat data to combat online abuse requires multi-level cooperation - from individuals and companies to public authorities and legislators. Our goal is to jointly take responsibility for data sharing, which requires functinal regulations, technical processes and trusting partnerships. Spamhaus is actively involved in collaborating with the community and supporting everyone interested in a secure Internet. For more information on data exchange with Spamhaus visit: submit.spamhaus.org.

What particular challenges is your industry currently facing and how are you dealing with them?
There are both new and familiar challenges to Internet security. On the one hand, abuse by large industrial corporations: some industry giants facilitate harmful activities through questionable practices (e.g., fraudulent domain name registrations or hosting botnet infrastructures). Since blocking these "virtual giants" is almost impossible, we are turning to new solutions, such as the hash blocklist and urging the community to demand stricter measures. More details can be found here: Cloudflare and anti-abuse.

Another challenge is the restriction of Port 25. This blocking of IP address ranges not intended for sending emails is a proven standard. However, some ISPs still do not block this port, which encourages abuse by private proxies. Spamhaus is working to raise awareness of this and is calling on companies to block port 25 as part of their security strategy.

We are also concerned about phishing and malware, especially ransomware. These threats remain as serious as ever. Through collaboration with abuse.ch, we detect thousands of phishing domains and malware infrastructures every week, which we share through our databases. Further insights on this are available in our latest Domain Reputation Update.

How do you expect your membership in the eco Association to support you?
Together with the eco Association, we want to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities in the area of Internet security. We look forward to collaborating with the community, participating in working groups and organising webinars and events to develop industry-specific solutions. Our goal is to work with industry, public authorities and legislators to bring about change.

What opportunities will digitalisation offer us in the future?
Digitalisation will further develop proven processes and create new opportunities for global cooperation - for both good and harmful actors. Spamhaus is continuously working to improve the efficiency and standardisation of threat data sharing, which is supported by digitalisation. This includes a current project that further develops proven tools such as MISP (Malware Information Sharing Platform).

Thank you for the interview, Mr Krohlas!