Nov 18th, 2008 · A week ago we discussed the takedown of McColo (and the morality of that action). McColo was reportedly the source of anywhere from 50% to 75% of the world's spam. On Saturday the malware network briefly returned to life in order to hand over command …
see also: PC · servers · network · service · provider · world · Internet
Nov 17th, 2008 · Few tears were shed when alleged spam and malware purveyor McColo was suddenly taken offline last Tuesday by its upstream service providers. But behind the scenes of the McColo case and another recent takedown of Intercage, a ferocious struggle is taking …
see also: service · laws · ISPs · Malware · global · nature · enforcement
Nov 12th, 2008 · Apparently, the Washington Post Blog 'Security Fix' managed to shut down McColo, a US-based hosting provider facilitating more than 75 percent of global spam. " Now how long before the void is filled by another ISP?Read more of this story at Slashdot.
see also: provider · Online · blog · ISPs · global · Spam · Washington
Nov 8th, 2008 · An anonymous reader points out a story in the Washington Post, which begins: "A single response from 12 million e-mails is all it takes for spammers to turn annual profits of millions of dollars promoting knockoff pharmaceuticals, according to an unprecedented …
see also: computer · PDF · Spam · Washington Post · botnet · dollars · worms
Oct 22nd, 2008 · The BBC report on a new gizmo that can block/filter spam phone calls. The system basically intercepts all calls. If it recognizes them as a friend or a member of the user's family — numbers on the so-called star list created by the user — …
see also: ca · BBC · gadget · IDs · insurance · friends · Spam
Oct 20th, 2008 · Last week's bust of the largest spam operation in the world has had no measurable impact on global spam volumes. The spam gang, known by authorities and security experts as HerbalKing, was responsible for one-third of all spam, the non-profit antispam …
see also: world · research · global · Security · operation · Spam · botnet
Oct 20th, 2008 · Last week's bust of the largest spam operation in the world has had no measurable impact on global spam volumes. The spam gang, known by authorities and security experts as HerbalKing, was responsible for one-third of all spam, the non-profit antispam …
see also: world · research · global · Security · operation · Spam · botnet
Oct 19th, 2008 · KingofGnG points out F-Secure's Q3 2008 security summary, in which its Chief Research Officer Mikko Hypponen proposes establishing an "Internetpol," an international organization empowered to target and root out cybercrime anywhere in the world. Hypponen …
see also: world · illegal · Malware · organization · prosecute · countries · Security
Oct 14th, 2008 · An international spam ring with ties to Australia, New Zealand, China, India, and the US is in the process of being shut down. Finances of members in the US are being frozen using the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 while the FBI is pursuing criminal charges. The …
see also: computer · Chinese · advertising · India · Spam · financed · botnet
Oct 8th, 2008 · Slashdot regular Bennett Haselton summarizes his essay by saying "Spammers really do lie more often under oath than other parties in court (surprise). Judges and prosecutors could promote respect for the law by cracking down on it, and maybe make a dent …
see also: parties · laws · prosecute · Spam · spammer · prosecutors · Perjury
Oct 8th, 2008 · The New York Times runs an article about the spammers' choice of presidential candidate. From the article: "According to Secure Computing Corp., spammers were nearly seven times more likely to slap Obama's name in the subject line than McCain's during …
see also: computer · New York Times · presidential · Spam · spammer · candidate · Obama
Oct 1st, 2008 · The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that the state's anti-spam law, which prohibits the sending of bulk e-mail using falsified or forged headers, violates the First Amendment because it also applies to non-commercial political or religious speech. I …
see also: IP · laws · Commercial · Internet · errors · speech · political
Oct 1st, 2008 · The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that the state's anti-spam law, which prohibits the sending of bulk e-mail using falsified or forged headers, violates the First Amendment because it also applies to non-commercial political or religious speech. I …
see also: IP · laws · Commercial · Internet · errors · speech · political
Sep 26th, 2008 · Wired's David Kravets reports on a new lobbying effort to support the filtering of internet traffic called Arts & Labs. Coverage is available at PC World as well. The lobby's members include AT&T, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Viacom …
see also: P2P · network · Microsoft · consumer · Internet · illegal · Malware
Sep 26th, 2008 · My kids are starting to want email accounts of their own. Even though gmail does a pretty good job of filtering spam, it's not perfect. Searching the web the other day for kid-safe email, I found a few sites that say they can do the job. What do others …
see also: service · Yahoo · gmail · Spam · itRead
Sep 22nd, 2008 · Wietse Venema started out as a physicist, but became interested in the security of the programs he wrote to control his physics experiments. He went on to create several well-known network and security tools, including the Security Administrator's Tool …
see also: network · solution · software · IBM · research · Creator · Security
Sep 13th, 2008 · The Washington Post is reporting that the Virginia Supreme Court has struck down the anti-spam law that was used to convict spammer Jeremy James, on the grounds that the ability to be anonymous was more important than the problem of spam. Strangely, the …
see also: laws · Commercial · restrictions · speech · Spam · Washington Post · unprotected
Sep 12th, 2008 · The Washington Post is reporting that the Virginia Supreme Court has struck down the anti-spam law that was used to convict spammer Jeremy James, on the grounds that the ability to be anonymous was more important than the problem of spam. Strangely, the …
see also: laws · Commercial · restrictions · speech · Spam · Washington Post · unprotected
Sep 5th, 2008 · InfoWorld's Martin Heller directs attention to ongoing investigations of more than 40 phantom registrars linked to The Directi Group, including PDR, one of the 10 worst offenders on the Net. According to KnujOn, an additional 19,000 domains advertised …
see also: IP · advertising · sponsored · domain · Spam · writer · investigations
Aug 31st, 2008 · A recent study (PDF) by Richard Clayton at Cambridge University determined that the first letter of a someone's email address directly affects how much spam they receive. As shown in the graph at either link above, email addresses with numbers as their …
see also: PDF · Spam · Cambridge University · corpus · Zebra · spamRead · Aardvarks