Have you heard of Signal Spam? Some of Badsender's readership may be familiar with this anti-spam organization. Unfortunately, Signal Spam is best known for its e-mailing solutions and less by shippers.
And yet, by bringing together all the players in the email industry (but not only), Signal Spam is a valuable partner for businesses. Both to improve their security and reduce the risk of phishing, and also to improve their deliverability practices.
To shed some light on Signal Spam, we have invited its president Carmen Piciorus to chat with Badsender.
Carmen joined La Poste in 2016 as a technical expert in the Laposte.net team. At La Poste webmail, she was in charge of anti-abuse activity, DMARC implementation, outgoing flow supervision, improving user satisfaction by reducing the number of complaints, and implementing tools to combat spam, phishing and any other type of abuse. Carmen is now a member of the cybersecurity team at La Poste's Mail and Parcels Services Division. She has been president of the Signal Spam association for 4 years.
Signal Spam website: https://www.signal-spam.fr/
Why is Signal Spam so little known in the email marketing world?
Jonathan Loriaux - My first question concerns the many companies that send email campaigns but still don't know about Signal Spam. How do you explain this?
Carmen Piciorus - In fact, some companies, especially those sending mail from abroad, are not familiar with Signal Spam. Small and medium-sized businesses in particular are not always aware of the tools available to combat spam, including those that Signal Spam makes available to them. That's why we run awareness-raising campaigns through our members and take part in various conferences, such as the M3AAWG for example, to attract companies that don't know us yet.
Some of the events we have attended have been broadcast live, enabling the general public to follow them. However, the challenge with these conferences and events is that they are sometimes quite closed due to the confidentiality of the data exchanged. Our members remain our best ambassadors, and we remain active by participating in various events dealing with spam, phishing and cyber-attacks in general. We also have a security component, which I'll describe in more detail later.
Why should advertisers join Signal Spam?
Jonathan Loriaux - What are the main benefits of following you, or even becoming a member, for companies sending out campaigns and for advertisers? Signal Spam is also a community, isn't it?
Carmen Piciorus - Signal Spam offers several advantages. First of all, it enables us to exchange information in total security. There's also an important educational aspect, with the sharing of best practices. What's more, we make it easier to contact messaging services and routers. Although we don't yet have specific tools for advertisers, we do offer resources that may be of interest to them. We're currently working on a range of tools targeted to different professions. Needs may vary depending on whether they are advertisers, brands or other types of business.
Jonathan Loriaux - As far as advertisers are concerned, there are still the feedback loop for larger advertisers who have their own IP address. Is your aim to motivate these major advertisers, who have their own IP addresses for sending their campaigns, to join you?
Carmen Piciorus - Yes, absolutely. As far as the feedback loop is concerned, we should probably promote it more. There are two aspects to consider. Firstly, there's the feedback loop linked to the reports received by our module. Members have access to this. Secondly, there's the operators' feedback loop. Perhaps we haven't communicated enough about this. At present, we have feedback loops from La Poste, Orange, SFR, and soon Gandi, if everything is ready. Advertisers can also benefit, but this requires the approval of anti-abuse managers. It is on a case-by-case basis that the anti-abuse managers of each messaging service validate access to their FBL, after a preliminary analysis to ensure that good practices are respected.
How effective is Signal Spam in the fight against spam?
Jonathan Loriaux - Is reporting spam really effective? Do many Internet users report spam on your platform? If so, what's the impact? What actually happens when people report spam?
Carmen Piciorus - Signal Spam was created primarily to report spam. After 20 years of existence, the association has broadened its objectives and scope beyond spam to meet the new needs of its users and members, particularly in the field of cybersecurity. We are particularly focused on the fight against phishing. It's important to remember that e-mail is the main channel - and the least costly - that attackers use today to steal access or penetrate corporate networks.
It's true that many Internet users report e-mails on our platform. We have 160,000 users who reported over 7 million emails in the last quarter of 2024. However, it's important to specify that Signal Spam is not a spam filter or antivirus solution, but a platform for collecting, analyzing and sharing reports. We share this information with the relevant authorities, who then take action.
The effect may not seem very visible to the user, which can be frustrating. But it's important to understand that reports serve as digital evidence for investigators and authorities. This makes it possible to take action against abusive businesses and prosecute cybercriminals.
Carmen Piciorus - To illustrate a more immediate effect, let's take the example of phishing. When users report phishing, this helps improve spam filters and detect URLs that impersonate brands. This provides tangible protection. For example, we have protected over 200,000 users who have clicked on a phishing link thanks to our module.
We have found that some users are more sophisticated, better trained and more sensitive to phishing. They are very quick to report phishing, which means that filters can be improved immediately. It's important to understand that by reporting, you're protecting users who may be less vigilant. When they click on a suspicious link, a warning page is displayed to alert them to the potential danger.
We're working hard to raise awareness among the various players, from agencies, routers and publishers to brands, CERTs and banks.
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Carmen Piciorus - It's important to note that some companies, even if they don't send e-mails directly, can have their identity impersonated by phishing campaigns. They are often unaware of this, as they are neither the ones sending the campaigns, nor the ones receiving them. End-users are the ones most affected. What's more, due to a lack of training, some companies don't realize that they can sometimes sell or buy marketing campaigns that don't respect best practices. The unfortunate result is a bombardment of the user's mailbox.
Who are Signal Spam's members and partners?
Jonathan Loriaux - Can you remind us who Signal Spam's partners are in terms of blocklists and email providers? In email marketing circles, we know that Orange, SFR and LaPoste.net are members, but there may be other, less well-known partners within Signal Spam.
Carmen Piciorus - In fact, our members include all the major French messaging services: Orange.fr, SFR.fr and LaPoste.fr. We also count many mail transmitters, known as routers, such as Splio, Brevo, Mailchimp, NP6, and many others. We work with cloud hosting providers such as OVH, Scaleway and Gandi. We also work with companies specializing in filtering and security, such as Vade, Worldline, Caisse des Dépôts and OpSec Security.
As for public authorities and organizations, we work with the Gendarmerie nationale, the Police, the CNIL, the CNAM, the CNRS, and Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, which is an excellent partner. We also work with advertisers such as SeLoger, CCM Benchmark, Groupon and Leboncoin.
We also collaborate with inter-professional associations such as DMA France, ECO in Germany, and the M3AAWG in the USA. We also have partnerships with the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers), the DGCCRF (Direction générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des fraudes), and many others. A new partnership with 33700, the platform for reporting smishing (spam or phishing received by SMS) is also under development. The full list is available on our website.
What are Signal Spam's objectives for the coming months?
Jonathan Loriaux - What are Signal Spam's objectives for the coming months?
Carmen Piciorus - We have internal and technical goals, but in terms of communication and visible results, our main objective is to broaden our membership. We're looking to expand into different business sectors, as needs vary by profession. We'll be targeting more agencies, brands, CERTs, banks and companies who may be less aware of the spam and brand spoofing phenomenon.
Our particular focus will be on phishing. We want to highlight the information flows we have at our disposal that can be beneficial, particularly for takedown. Thanks to our partnerships with cloud hosting providers, we have privileged agreements to carry out takedowns, i.e. to remove the URL or domain that usurps a brand.
We will also try to reach more users through end-user representative organizations. One of our major objectives is to obtain recognition for Signal Spam as an association of public utility. This status will reinforce our legitimacy in the fight against spam and phishing, and in the sharing of best practices.
I think it's a really important point that we'll be working on this year and next.
Conditions of access to Signal Spam's feedback loop
Jonathan Loriaux - I have another question concerning advertisers who do email marketing. If their router is a member of Signal Spam, can they expect to have access to the feedback loop data? Or is it entirely up to the router to decide whether or not to share the complaint volume data per IP address with its customers?
Carmen Piciorus - That's an excellent question. The router's main role is educational. As a member, he receives statistics and can analyze them in relation to his customers. He can share them, especially when there are problems. Statistics are particularly useful for identifying peaks, complaint problems and so on. However, data sharing is a sensitive issue. It usually requires a specific partnership with the company.
However, the router can use this data to educate and add weight to his arguments. So, if he encounters a customer who is having difficulties, he can present the statistics. What's more, he can call on us to intervene, which we do on a regular basis.
To conclude
Jonathan Loriaux - Do you have anything else to add?
Carmen Piciorus - I'd like to give you a quick reminder of how Signal Spam works. We offer modules available on browsers and e-mail clients, which enable us to collect reports. The more reports we receive, the more we can ask the relevant authorities to take action against these malicious campaigns, and the richer our filters become.
We're often asked: "Why do I have to report when my inbox is always bombarded with unwanted mail?" It's a civic gesture that will protect other users. At the same time, as far as phishing is concerned, it enables us to protect brands.
Companies who may be less familiar with the tools we provide can join Signal Spam, not only for the tools we offer, but also for the community we're trying to create. It's a community that remains confidential, where exchanges are secure. Sometimes, we share threats that certain companies or members are experiencing, and we try to find solutions together. It's also a secure space for discussing different threats and issues.
What's more, it also enables us to share tools. We have a community around the tools that our members can share with each other, which is very interesting.
