The Latin American and Caribbean Network Operators Group (LACNOG) chartered a new working group to serve as a regional voice in the global anti-abuse community. The new LAC Anti-Abuse Working Group (LAC-AAWG) will convene experts from regional network operator communities and the global Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group to encourage industry dialogue, develop recommendations and advance best practices for safeguarding online activities.

LAC-AAWG is partnering with M3AAWG to organize trusted, open-discussion sessions on anti-abuse issues and best practices. These sessions are being coordinated by LAC-AAWG founding chairs Lucimara Desiderá, security analyst at CERT.br (Brazilian National Computer Emergency Response Team) which is maintained by the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br), and Christian O’Flaherty, ISOC senior development manager for Latin America and the Caribbean.

“LAC-AAWG was created to be a place where regional network operators and anti-abuse experts can share their concerns about current and emerging online threats, discuss processes validated by their peers to reduce abuse, and develop best practices that address both local and global issues. The concept is that local involvement is essential to consider our specificities and global engagement is necessary to stay abreast of the latest threats traversing the internet and to help develop operations that will mitigate them,” Desiderá said.

Since its founding in 2004, M3AAWG has emphasized the importance of global cooperation within the online community in fighting spam, phishing, fraud and other cybercrime and has worked to provide a trusted venue where security and policy experts can share information. 

In 2016 , M3AAWG began to explore means to improve collaboration with the LAC operator communities. As a result, LACNIC (the LAC Network Information Center) and M3AAWG formed a partnership to share expertise and information that could reduce regional and global abuse. The development of LAC-AAWG as an independent working group within LACNOG is one outcome of those efforts. The partnership also has paved the way for M3AAWG members to provide training on hosting anti-abuse operations and to work with the regional community on anti-abuse best practices.  

M3AAWG Chairman Severin Walker said, “Because cyber criminals ignore borders and only care about scamming the targeted victims, the reality is that we all face similar threats and malware. There is no question that online security and abuse are both local and international issues. We applaud LACNOG, and appreciate the efforts of LACNIC, in creating this new forum as a model of local participation and global engagement. It is a resourceful approach that could be effectively applied in other regions.”

• Latin American and Caribbean Anti-Abuse Working Group to Collaborate with LACNIC and M3AAWG to Fight Online Threats - (in Spanish) 
• LACNIC and the Latin American Operational Security Community Joins Forces with M3AAWG to Combat Online Threats – In Spanish (on LACNIC website) – In Portugese (on LACNIC website)
• M3AAWG Membership Value and Fact Sheet (English)
• M3AAWG Membership Value and Fact Sheet (Spanish - El valor de hacerse miembro. Hoja informativa.)
• Operación Safety Net: Mejores Prácticas Recomendadas Para Enfrentar Amenazas en Línea, Móviles y Telefónicas (Operation Safety Net in Spanish)

About LACNIC

LACNIC, the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry, is an international non-government organization established in Uruguay in 2002. It is responsible for assigning and administering Internet numbering resources (IPv4, IPv6), Autonomous System Numbers, Reverse Resolution and other resources for the region of Latin America and the Caribbean. It is one of the five Regional Internet Registries that exist worldwide.

LACNIC contributes to Internet development in the region through an active cooperation policy, promoting and defending the regional community's interests and helping create conditions that will allow the Internet to become an effective instrument for social inclusion and economic development in benefit of all Latin American and Caribbean countries and citizens.  More information is available at www.lacnic.net.