The Certified Senders Alliance (CSA), whose goal it is to increase the quality of commercial emails, has been attending M3AAWG for some years now – the international meeting event where the industry comes together to work against bots, malware, spam, viruses, DoS attacks, and other online exploitation.
This June in Budapest, Florian Mielke, the CSA’s new Manager of Business Development, will be at M3AAWG for the second time. In a brief interview, he explains the value of attendance at M3AAWG.
Florian, who from the CSA will be attending M3AAWG this year?
Florian Mielke At M3AAWG this year in Budapest, which takes place from 3 to 6 June, it will be Julia Janssen-Holldiek, Director of the CSA, Nikolai Furmanczak, our Systems Engineer, and myself, as Manager of Business Development. It will be my second time at MAAWG – I was also there in San Francisco in February on behalf of the CSA.
Why is attendance at M3AAWG important from the perspective of the CSA, and why in particular are you attending the meeting?
Florian Mielke For us at the CSA, it is really important to stay up-to-date with the newest technologies in message security. At M3AAWG, you can be sure to exchange knowledge on topics from the leading industry experts. You can learn so much from them, and this exchange is invaluable. And you can also learn so much from researchers, too – ones who are dealing with topics such as malware, spam, viruses, and social network abuse, and also with all the legal topics. Attendance is then exceptionally good for the CSA.
And why am I myself attending M3AAWG? Well, we have partners and CSA senders who are also there. And sometimes, face-to-face exchange is even better than what happens via email (even if email is our main business!). When you’re on-site, you have the opportunity to take the time to push things forward because you are more focused; you can take your time. Often in daily business you only have a time-slot of three minutes or so. It’s sometimes better if you have that talk while eating – for example, over breakfast. I learned that at the last M3AAWG.
M3AAWG meetings are private events, in order to ensure that the professional community of participants can speak their minds and work towards finding the best solutions for any issues at hand. Do you have any advice concerning who should be attending M3AAWG meetings?
Florian Mielke I think it should be attended by all those who are professionally involved in anti-abuse and have an interest in engaging in an exchange on technical and legal issues. My first time at M3AAWG, I learnt to appreciate the community and productive atmosphere. At M3AAWG, you speak very openly with figures of the industry in a closed and elected room, in which people exchange ideas and talks.
And is MAAWG only for technical people or does this have something to offer others?
Florian Mielke For me as a business development manager, for example, M3AAWG offers great opportunities – for example, for exchange between the sessions and working groups with experts from industry and science. And for the networking aspect, this exchange is really important for us in the CSA. Which is why we are looking forward to new and familiar faces at this year’s M3AAWG in June in Budapest.
