Apple opens support centre for iPad, iPhone and Macbook spam victims

Apple has launched a new reporting service for users to report spam and phishing text messages on its iMessage service, following attacks targeting the platform.
The company called for spam victims to contact Apple support staff via a new imessage.spam@icloud.com email address with a message including a screenshot of the spam, the email address or phone number of the spammer and the date and time the spam was received.
The release follows reports criminals had hit iOS developers with denial of service attacks using iMessage. The move is the latest by Apple to secure its mobile iOS 7 operating system against spam.
Prior to this the company granted users the ability to block contacts in the Messages, Phone and FaceTime apps, but this does not extend to users running devices with previous versions of iOS.
The service's launch follows widespread reports within the security community that spam levels are growing. The growth is taken as troubling as many criminal groups use spam messages as an infection tool in their phishing campaigns, loading them with malicious web links or attachments, which when clicked infect the device with malware.
Traditionally Windows PCs have been spammers' main targets, though since the arrival of smart devices, such as tablets and smartphones, criminals have begun to expand their operations.
Android is currently believed to be the main mobile target, with Finnish security firm F-Secure reporting detecting a 50 percent boom in malware families that have been targeting the ecosystem in its Q1 2013 Threat Report.