Spam

Overheard - Backscatter spam

Sending spam, or hiring someone to send it for you, is illegal in many countries, including the U.S., where it violates the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Using false or misleading header information is also a violation of the CAN-SPAM Act, but since the spammer has already decided to break the law by sending the spam in the first place, adding the crime of email address forging is trivial. Michael Cobb, Why is backscatter spam so difficult to block?

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is backscatter spam.

Overheard - Kill a Zombie Day

“IT security and data protection company, Sophos, has called on computer users around the world to participate in “Kill-A-Zombie Day” on Saturday 31st October, also known as Halloween. Billions of spam messages are sent every day, with over 99% determined to be relayed from innocent users’ computers that have been hijacked and turned into a zombie.” Kansas City InfoZine, International Kill-a-Zombie Day Will be a Thriller for Halloween

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is pulsing zombie.  Happy Halloween!

Overheard: Using disposable email accounts to see who’s selling your name

One good reason to use disposable email addresses is that it makes it easy to identify who has sold your details to spammers. If you use a unique address for each site you sign up with, then you will know instantly who to point the finger at. You will soon find out who can be trusted with your data - and who can’t. Sharon Hurley Hall, Disposable Email Addresses

Overheard: Piracy + spam + malware = net pollution

Have you heard of “net pollution”? If not, you soon will, because it’s a term being pushed by Arts+Labs, the new group backed by AT&T, Viacom, NBC Universal, Cisco, and Microsoft. Nate Anderson, AT&T, NBC lump piracy in with spam, malware as net pollution

Overheard: Even spammers have to pay taxes

“I built my entire life around a facade. I’m very embarrassed and I’m ashamed.” Robert Soloway, as quoted in Spammer sentenced to 47 months in prison

The Zombie “Spam King” is going to jail for four years and has to pay over $700,000 in restitution.  It wasn’t the CAN-SPAM act that got him. Like Al Capone before him, Soloway was busted for failing to pay taxes. Soloway, who already had a $7 million judgement against him from Microsoft and a $10 million judgement against him from an ISP in Oklahoma,  pleaded guilty to mail fraud, fraud in electronic mail and failure to file a tax return. 

Ironically, the spam this guy sent out was all about how to send spam. His company’s name? Newport Internet Marketing. For $495, Soloway’s customers could have an ad sent to 20,000,000 e-mail addresses. He also sold $150 software for sending out unsolicited bulk email.

Overheard: Is Kraken buzz just Damballa’s attempt to make a name for itself?

“Many folks in the anti-virus and broader Internet security space say Damballa is trying to make a name for itself by hyping this threat, and that Kraken is nothing more than a renamed and repackaged “Bobax,” a worm of similar lineage and methods that was discovered several years ago.” Brian Krebs, Kraken Spawns a Clash of the Titans

Overheard: Spammers are just direct mailers

“But spammers are not dumb. They’re just direct mailers. They’re going for the 1 percent that thinks “OnlineBootyCall message” actually might mean romance is in the air.” Daniel Terdiman, The game of subconscious spam filtering