Denmark approves SMS firewall to combat fraud

The Danish government has authorized telecom companies to implement an SMS firewall that will analyze texts for fraudulent content. Last year, police received 35,000 reports of cybercrime, a 30% increase from the previous year. Ministers Caroline Stage and Morten Bødskov confirmed the legality of the system after a year of scrutiny. The initiative is modeled after Finland’s approach, which has successfully blocked up to 95% of scam attempts. Concerns about privacy and breach of the secrecy of correspondence were addressed; the system does not permit misuse for marketing purposes. Algorithms and AI will examine texts without storing or logging data, and only non-encrypted SMS can be screened. The system is expected to be operational within one to two months.