In early November, the Japan Anti-Abuse Working Group (JPAAWG) held its 8th General Meeting. As a regional partner in ending the spread of online abuse, several M3AAWG members made the trip from North America to present, learn, share, and connect. Attendees in Kochi City, Japan, as part of this hybrid meeting that drew 557 total registrants, were M3AAWG Vice Treasurer and Growth and Development Committee Chair Tom Bartel, Mobile Committee Chair Tanya Plaza, and Names & Numbers Committee Vice Chair Steve Jones.
Global Threats Require Global Collaboration
Intending to advance mobile initiatives, M3AAWG’s Mobile Committee Chair, Tanya Plaza, made the journey from the United States to present and connect with our JPAAWG family.
As a keynote speaker, Tanya presented on M3AAWG’s mission and vision, as well as key initiatives planned for the organization as 2026 approaches. A major part of that message focused on continuing to increase mobile membership around the world. Because criminal actors operating in mobile and online spaces are not constrained by borders, Tanya spoke to how our collective efforts must be equally global, collaborative, and technically robust.
Her keynote also addressed SMS blasting, highlighting a recent takedown by the United States Secret Service in September of a SIM card farm. That event was seen as a frightening watershed example of a telecommunications threat aimed at senior government officials within the U.S. Tanya found it especially important to speak about the September SMS Blasting takedown event while at JPAAWG as a form of appreciation for the insight JPAAWG members shared with M3AAWG Mobile Chairs earlier this year.
“It is thanks to this knowledge sharing that M3AAWG was able to learn about SMS Blasting abuse long before it was identified within the U.S. This type of partnership and collaboration is what allows the anti-abuse community to work on prevention and mitigation practices against emerging threats that will drive a lasting change,” Tanya said.
“Criminals waging cyber warfare within the political landscape are not unique to the U.S.,” as Tanya discussed on stage.
“These cyber threats against government officials really show the global problems that need to be solved. It's not an individual country that can end it alone. We all need to work together in different regions to solve these problems,” she added.
She was also joined on stage by Steve during this presentation, providing a survey of recent AI-fueled attacks in Asia, and examples of how defenders were able to leverage AI and cross-sector/cross-organization responses to mitigate these attacks.
“We are committed to solving these problems and taking down these SMS blasters and fraudsters who are increasingly targeting the elderly,” Tanya said.
In addition to joining Tanya on stage, Steve gave a separate presentation reviewing recent activity in the IETF's DKIM and DMARC working groups, primarily focusing on developments in the DKIM2 project over the past year. DKIM2 is an evolution of several DKIM replay countermeasures that were first proposed in 2023, incorporating lessons learned from the ARC protocol and features to address the "backscatter" from spam.
Tom Bartel’s attendance focused on continuing to strengthen partnerships with organizations equally committed to fighting online and telecom abuse. His participation helped deepen cross-regional collaboration and open new pathways for shared anti-abuse initiatives.
Knowledge Exchange Through Lightning Talks, BOFs, Open Roundtables, and More
Lightning Talks, Birds of a Feather sessions, and Open Round Tables throughout the meeting addressed ongoing challenges like spam traps, strengthening measures against phishing, smishing, and spoofing, token-based email authentication, and even an idea exchange on attracting a new generation of workforce professionals to the nation’s email industry.
Other topics explored in Kochi City included issues related to sender authentication, delivery challenges, combating automated abuse, and a 2025 update on Gmail Sender Guidelines. You can explore the full program from JPAAWG’s 8th general meeting here.
As the JPAAWG community includes both industry professionals and government officials, the information exchanged at their meetings can fast-track new laws and regulations. Given Japan’s aging population, major efforts are in place to protect the elderly who have been targeted in droves by cyber criminals and fraudsters.
“Online abuse is not something we're going to solve tomorrow. It’s often a slog through hard work, and not knowing what your impact will ultimately be. Coming together to learn from each other and seeing everybody face to face is a breath of fresh air,” Tanya said.
Join M3AAWG in San Diego for our 66th General Meeting
The global effort to keep cybercrime from spreading will continue in full force at M3AAWG’s 66th General Meeting, taking place February 16-19, 2026, in San Diego, California. If you are not yet a member and would like to contribute, we encourage you to explore membership opportunities ahead of the San Diego meeting.
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