FEATURE
Enea’ s threat intelligence unit quickly identified senders, spammers and sending patterns, allowing filters to be refined. This is an iterative process, as spammers quickly adapted after messages were blocked, requiring constant monitoring and adjustment to maintain effectiveness over time.
Understanding spam in Liberty’ s services and adding prevention
As the firewall went live, several notable behavioural patterns appeared. Enea quickly confirmed that large amounts of spam, mainly gambling spam, originated from Liberty’ s network but were terminated in US operator networks.
Common SMS Spam Tactics Identified
• Use of roaming number ranges to avoid detection
• Rapid rotation of disposable domains( e. g. short-lived URLs)
• High-volume bursts of messages from changing sources
• Targeting international networks, including US operators
• Frequent adaptation to bypass filters and detection systems
What was unique in this case was that the spam was actually being sent from Liberty’ s roaming number range, likely as a tactic to avoid detection. However, it was unsuccessful since Enea’ s threat intelligence team could detect and control the messages effectively.
This wasn’ t the only tactic used by gambling spammers to avoid detection or bypass filters. For example, they often changed their URLs, registering new domains in bulk. Each domain was used for short bursts, about 200 messages, before switching to another obscure, disposable domain like silhn. info, fqzbc. cc or kcghb. info.
In the first few weeks after deployment, over 30,000 scam domains were identified and blocked, significantly reducing the ability of attackers to reach subscribers and limiting the effectiveness of their campaigns.
Complaints drop as spammers fail to get through
Perhaps the most telling sign of success was how quickly the adversaries stopped once Enea’ s messaging firewall reliably began blocking their messages. Gambling spam dropped from an average of over 3,100 daily attempts in the first week to just over 300 in the second week, then down to only 16 in the third week.
Within weeks of activation, overall spam volume collapsed. Complaints from subscribers dropped by approximately 99 %, and the network experienced an immediate improvement in traffic hygiene and overall message quality.
It became clear that the spammers had realised their messages no longer reached their targets and were probably moving on to less protected networks, highlighting the effectiveness of the deployed solution.
Osvaldo Aldao, Chief Technology and Product Officer, Enea, said operators in Latin America have begun to prioritise messaging security:
“ Operators across Latin America are facing increasing regulatory and fraud pressure. Liberty’ s results demonstrate that fast deployment and intelligence-driven filtering can dramatically reduce abuse within weeks,” he said.
For Liberty, the outcome was exactly what they needed: a swift deployment of a reliable messaging firewall that ensured compliance, boosted customer trust and delivered measurable results almost immediately across their network operations.
Their team valued not just the technology but also the agility: being able to collaborate effectively, adapt quickly and make decisions that kept the project efficient while ensuring long-term stability and scalability as messaging threats evolve.
In the end, it was a mix of speed, flexibility, technical knowledge and a shared dedication to results that made the project so successful.
And for Liberty, the change was clear: from a growing spam problem with regulatory concerns to one of the cleanest messaging environments in their region – all within just a few weeks.
“ Protecting our subscribers is a top priority and Enea’ s expertise in messaging security has been instrumental in ensuring a clean and trusted messaging service,” said Daniel Vidaurre, VAS and Roaming Manager, Liberty Costa Rica.
“ The results speak for themselves, and we are extremely satisfied with the positive impact of Enea’ s firewall.” •
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