Anti Spam Software & Internet Filters Blog - Securence

Cell Phones Now Richer Targets for Viruses, Spam, Scams

According to an article posted in USA Today, as next-generation cell phones grow in popularity and function more like PCs, digital intruders are targeting them with viruses, spam and phishing schemes.

Full story at USA Today.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

 

Asia-Pacific Nations to Cooperate in Fight Against Spam

Spammers around the globe listen up. An alliance of 10 Asia-Pacific nations and regions is joining forces to deliver a counteroffensive to protect the Internet from advertising overload.

A group of 12 communications and Internet agencies across the Asia-Pacific region will cooperate to fight against spam, according to The Edge Daily.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on April 27 signed the Seoul-Melbourne Anti-Spam Agreement, a multilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in countering spam with the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) and the Korean Information Security Agency (KISA).

"The MoU is focussed on sharing knowledge, information and intelligence about known sources of spam, network vulnerabilities, methods of spam propagation and technical, educational and policy solutions to the spam problem," said MCMC chairman Datuk V Danapalan in a statement.

"It will also focus on putting anti-spam solutions and strategies into action," he said.

The new MoU is based on the existing agreement signed in late 2003 between the ACA and the National Office for the Information Economy of Australia and the KISA to combat the spam problem.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

 

Battle Over Spam May Veer to Criminal Court

Legal efforts to thwart spam have been slow in realizing any results for some time now. And on the criminal front, they have all been pretty much ineffective -- until now.

The recent felony conviction and sentencing of a Virginia man for spam-related offenses -- the first on a felony level -- could be a sign that more criminal prosecutions are coming to a legal battleground more accustomed to civil actions and large fines.

In January 2004, Congress passed the federal Can-Spam Act in an effort to streamline spam regulations and give the Federal Trade Commission more room to go after spammers. But many prosecutors and civil lawyers say the federal law has no teeth. The sentencing of the Virginia defendant, Jeremy Jaynes, to nine years in prison is an indication that states are taking spam prosecution into their own hands.

Full article at The National Law Journal

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

 

The 'Spam King' Files for Bankruptcy

Finally, reputed Spam King Scott Richter feels the wrath of justice, both personally and professionally.

When New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Microsoft Corp. vowed in 2003 to send him into bankruptcy, accused spammer Scott Richter responded with defiance.

"I told them to take a hike," he said, calling Spitzer's purported offer of a settlement "extortion." While those giants pursued him, Richter even floated the idea of a "Spam King" clothing line.

But the clothing line never made it out of the conceptual stages, and late last month, Richter's company, Optinrealbig.com of Westminster, Colo., filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In doing so, the company cited as its largest creditor Microsoft and a $20 million disputed claim tied to its anti-spam suit. Richter himself also filed for personal bankruptcy protection, court records show.

Full article at San Francisco Chronicle

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Living on Spam From the Groaning Board of E-mail

A lively commentary from a frustrated professor at Virginia Tech in coping with spam. While Professor Riley cites many benefits of email replacing traditional mail and how one can go about responding OR NOT RESPONDING. "Lately, our appreciation of e-mail's benefits is being sorely tried," he says. "Turn on the computer in the morning, and what greets us? Spam, spam and more spam - a long, time-wasting queue of messages consisting of the dishonest, the distasteful, the unwanted and the unthinkable."

Full article at Roanoke Times

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Lawmakers Sharpen Hook for Prosecuting "Phishers"

Yesterday legislation was passed by Washington lawmakers that increase penalties against "phishing," spam that attempts to get consumers' financial data by posing as a bank or other company.

The e-mails often contain links to Web sites that appear to belong to genuine banks, persuading some recipients to provide their account, credit-card or other personal information.

A recent survey of Internet users by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that phishing spam is on the rise, while pornographic spam is declining.

The legislation would create special penalties for people caught phishing.

Full article at Seattle Times

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Computer Security Issues Will Get Worse

Bill Husted of the Cox News Service wrote a very compelling article on how computer security issues are only going to get worse in the coming year. He says, "Sure, you're worn out from dealing with phisher scams, spam e-mail, viruses, spyware and home network problems. But in the next year or so, it's likely that these will become the good old days of computing."

He says there are dozens of new threats on the horizon. And the bad news is, these new threats haven't been discovered yet.

Full article at The Register-Guard

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Battle Against Spam Shifts to Containment

According to a news story in BusinessWeek, there is a new strategy in the spam battle. It's called containment.

In fact, filters for blocking junk e-mail from inboxes have improved so much that doing much more will needlessly kill legitimate e-mail. And so e-mail gatekeepers are shifting gears. Now they're getting more aggressive at keeping spam from leaving their systems in the first place.

Full article at BusinessWeek

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Mozilla Spam Fools the Net Savvy

We learned today of a new spam campaign taking advantage of the Mozilla browser, fooling users into downloading a virus.

According to the news report, which apperaed in SC Magazine, "the spam appears as a message telling the recipient that their website is incompatible with Mozilla-based browsers and asks the reader to fix the problem."

Full article at SC Magazine

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

New Spam Campaign Exploting Death of Pope John Paull II

BEWARE!!! We just learned of a new spam campaign that is taking advantage of people's interest in and grief over the death of Pope John Paul II, whose funeral was held Friday, April 8. According to our sources, the spam claims to offer readers a free collection of books written by the late pope. The email goes on to ask users to click on a link to receive the gift. However, the link actually takes them to a Web site offering ''free money-making advice."

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam