SMS Firewall: Free, OpenSource, and AI-Powered Protection

As communication channels evolve, so do the threats targeting these platforms. Consequently, spam, phishing, and malicious content plague users and networks across SMS, email, RCS, and social platforms. Traditional SMS firewalls have long served as the primary defense against these attacks. However, their limitations are becoming increasingly clear as new and more complex threats emerge. Open Text Shield (OTS) offers a more versatile and dynamic solution that goes beyond SMS, providing protection across a wide range of messaging platforms.

In this post, we’ll explore how OTS, a free and open-source AI-driven tool, can complement or replace traditional SMS firewalls. Moreover, it extends protection across multiple communication channels.

Traditional SMS Firewall: Narrow in Scope, Limited in Flexibility

Traditional SMS firewalls focus on protecting SMS traffic through static rule-based filtering. They block unwanted messages based on known patterns or keywords. However, this approach has several significant drawbacks:

• Static Rules: These firewalls require manual updates to address new spam or phishing techniques. As a result, they are slow to adapt to emerging threats.
• High Maintenance: Maintaining and updating these rules takes considerable time and resources.
• Limited Application: Most SMS firewalls are confined to SMS. Therefore, they lack the flexibility to protect other messaging platforms.

In addition, as threats grow more sophisticated across SMS, email, RCS, and social platforms, traditional firewalls often fall short.

OTS: A Versatile, AI-Powered Solution for All Messaging Channels

Open Text Shield (OTS) provides an adaptable, AI-driven solution that goes beyond the constraints of traditional SMS firewalls. Furthermore, OTS is designed not only for SMS traffic but also for other messaging platforms, including email, RCS, and social networks. Consequently, it offers a comprehensive tool for telecom operators and businesses looking to secure multiple communication channels from a variety of threats.

Here’s how OTS stands apart:

• AI-Driven Content Analysis: OTS uses machine learning models to classify messages and detect spam, phishing, and fraud across all messaging platforms.
• Real-Time Threat Detection: OTS continuously learns and adapts to new threats. Therefore, it provides dynamic protection without the need for constant manual rule updates.
• Multilingual Support: The latest OTS 2.1.0 version supports 10 languages, including Sinhala and Tamil. This enables protection across diverse regions and languages.
• Multi-Platform Application: Whether it’s SMS, email, RCS, or messaging on social platforms, OTS offers a single, unified solution that protects users across all communication channels.

Moreover, by integrating OTS, communication service providers (CSPs) and businesses can secure all their messaging platforms without needing separate tools for each channel.

Download source code for OTS

Our team is here to help you seamlessly integrate OTS into your infrastructure—completely free of charge. For expert guidance, simply reach out to us at support@telecomsxchange.com, and we’ll ensure a smooth setup from start to finish.

OTS Docker Version

In just a couple of commands, your IT team can have free OTS models running locally in your environment with an API ready to make real-time predictions.

docker pull telecomsxchange/opentextshield
docker run -d -p 8002:8002 telecomsxchange/opentextshield:latest

No time to download and test? Try the cloud-hosted OTS API with the following curl example:

curl -X 'POST' 'https://europe.ots-api.telecomsxchange.com/predict/' -H 'accept: application/json' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"text":"Deposit money to avoid service suspension at https://bit.ly/8484842u","model":"bert","bert_version":"bert-base-multilingual-cased"}' 

Complement or Replace: OTS’s Role in Your Security Stack

For telecom operators and businesses with an existing SMS firewall, OTS can serve as a complementary solution. In addition, it adds a deeper layer of AI-driven real-time content analysis and protection. Moreover, OTS ensures that threats are detected across all messaging platforms, not just SMS, offering a comprehensive approach to security.

For those without a robust security solution in place, OTS offers a stand-alone, powerful tool. It is not only free and open-source but also robust enough to protect against phishing, spam, and fraud across SMS, email, RCS, and social networks.

To get an unbiased opinion, we asked two AI models—GPT-4o and Gemini—to compare OTS with traditional SMS firewall. The conclusion was clear:

• If the focus is on protecting end users from targeted phishing and content-based threats, OTS would likely be the better choice. This is due to its advanced AI-driven content filtering.
• On the other hand, if the priority is blocking known spam and fraud through traffic pattern analysis and rule-based filtering, traditional commercial firewalls remain solid options. However, combining OTS with a traditional SMS firewall could offer a comprehensive solution for both content and traffic-level protection.

We also asked the AI models to compare OTS with well-known commercial SMS firewalls across different categories. Here’s the detailed comparison:

Comparison Chart

Why We Think OTS’s Approach is the Future of Messaging Security

As messaging threats evolve, the demand for advanced protection across multiple platforms—SMS, email, RCS, and social networks—has never been more urgent. Moreover, traditional SMS firewalls, while offering some defense, are no longer sufficient to handle the complexity and scale of today’s spam and phishing attacks. Open Text Shield (OTS)delivers a more intelligent and adaptable solution, providing robust security across all messaging channels without the constraints of rule-based SMS Firewall.

OTS’s free and open-source model offers telecom operators and businesses an accessible, powerful alternative to costly proprietary solutions. In addition, it allows you to easily enhance your existing defenses or deploy a new security framework across all messaging platforms.

With OTS, you gain the flexibility to:

• Leverage pre-trained models: Use OTS’s pre-built models for fast, effective deployment.
• Customize and re-train models in-house: Tailor OTS’s machine learning models using your own data to address specific threats in your network.
• Streamline Enhancements: Effortlessly obtain a second opinion from leading commercial models like GPT-4o or Gemini. Moreover, compare them with OTS outputs, and enhance your system by retraining with the refined version.
• Build your own security backend: Create and integrate a messaging security system across your internal or external messaging services. Consequently, this ensures comprehensive protection from spam, phishing, and fraud.

OTS v2.1: Expanding Capabilities for Global SMS Firewall Security

The latest release of OTS v2.1.0 introduces several new features to enhance its versatility and effectiveness across various communication channels. Key highlights include:

• Expanded Language Support: OTS now supports text classification in 10 languages, including Sinhala and Tamil. Therefore, this allows telecom operators and businesses to protect users in more regions.
• AI-Driven Threat Detection: With machine learning models like mBERT and Fastext, OTS delivers advanced detection of phishing, spam, and fraud. Moreover, it dynamically adapts to new threats in real-time.
• Multi-Platform Coverage: OTS isn’t limited to SMS firewall. Consequently, it offers robust protection across email, RCS, social networks, and other messaging platforms, making it a comprehensive security solution.
• Open-Source and Free to Use: The open-source nature of OTS gives operators the flexibility to deploy and customize the tool without the financial burden of proprietary solutions.

With OTS v2.1, telecom operators and messaging solution developers can leverage cutting-edge technology to secure all communication channels and stay ahead of ever-evolving threats. Whether used as a stand-alone solution or alongside existing firewalls, OTS offers a smarter, more adaptable approach to protecting messaging platforms.

Ready to elevate your messaging security with Open Text Shield (OTS)? Our team is here to help you integrate OTSinto your infrastructure—completely free of charge. For expert guidance, simply reach out to us at support@telecomsxchange.com, and we’ll ensure a smooth setup from start to finish.