Anti Spam Software & Internet Filters Blog - Securence

Anti Spam Software Provider Targets the Spam Bull’s-Eye

Securence, a leading internet and email filtering service provider helps control the onslaught of spam and viruses.

Minnetonka, MN,  October 14, 2005 -- http://www.securence.com - Securence, Inc., a leading provider of anti spam, anti virus software and Internet filtering services that include email protection and security services for small businesses, enterprises, and educational and government institutions worldwide, targets the spam bull’s-eye and aims to bring it under control.

Findings from a report produced by Nucleus Research, a global research firm that recently conducted in-depth interviews with employees at 82 Fortune 500 companies, identified two startling results:
1. Spam is definitely on the rise. The average employee received nearly 7,500 spam messages in 2004, up from 3,500 in 2003.
2. Employee productivity continues to be hurt. Average lost productivity per employee was 3.1% in 2004, up from 1.4% in 2003.

It's not surprising that spam continues to present serious security and resource risks to an organization's infrastructure: overloading systems, clogging mailboxes, defrauding recipients, reducing employee productivity and draining morale. It also increases the frequency, severity and cost of virus attacks and related threats, such as the damage to an employer's reputation from inadvertently sending spam or viruses. As a result, companies are faced with the ever-increasing challenge of not only reconciling inherent problems caused by spam, but also protecting themselves from on-going attacks. With such a foreboding technological landscape, at times even the most tech savvy IT administrators are hard-pressed for what to do.

The question arises, how do companies keep spammers in their sights? Enter Securence, a company with a unique Internet filtering and anti spam solution that helps protect companies and their employees by scanning email and eliminating threats, such as viruses, worms, malicious content and attachments, and other junk mail before reaching the end user.

In today's email world, all mail is born either legitimate or illicit. From here, the delivery process is rather straightforward. The originating mail server delivers email to the destination mail server via SMTP, with both servers having an IP address. Simply put, think of two phone numbers trying to connect.

In the case of a company using Securence's email filtering solution, SecurenceMail, when an email is sent to its mail server, the email is initially redirected to Securence through its MX record, which is short for mail exchange record, an entry in a domain name database that identifies the mail server responsible for handling emails for that domain name. (The MX record points to an array of servers that run in Securence's data centers in Minneapolis and Milwaukee.) Before an email can be accepted by Securence's system and delivered to the recipient, a series of steps must occur to ensure "clean" delivery. This cleansing process is also known as "filtering."

"What we're basically doing," says Travis Carter, VP of Technology at Securence, "is looking for Internet rodents."

SecurenceMail provides total protection against spam and viruses at the gateway. It typically blocks over 98% of spam and allows businesses to create and enforce custom email policies to further reduce the threat of unwanted email entering or leaving an organization. SecurenceMail is complemented by round-the-clock virus protection through Norman AntiVirus and Clam AntiVirus. This integrated multi-layer technology is fully scalable with flexible administrative management tools. By providing consolidated protection against the convergence of spam and virus threats, Securence offers organizations significant business and operational efficiencies, and lowers the total cost of ownership of anti spam and anti virus security.

About Securence
Securence is a leading provider of anti spam software, and Internet filtering services that include email protection and security services for small business, enterprises, educational, and government institutions worldwide. The Company’s unique solutions help protect companies and their employees by scanning email and eliminating threats, such as viruses, worms, malicious content and attachments, and other junk mail before reaching the end user. Securence provides real-time protection from the latest email threats through the use of cutting-edge filtering technology and 24/7 monitoring – all backed by world-class customer service. Securence can be implemented immediately and requires no integration, migration, or upfront costs. Based in Minneapolis, Securence is a wholly owned subsidiary of US Internet Corp., a premier, full-service application service provider.

Oklahoma Man Wins $10 Million Judgment Against a Spammer

I'm sure it was a long and hard battle but an Oklahoma man wins a legal fight with a spammer.

"On Thursday the 22nd, Robert Braver, an Oklahoma ISP owner who is a long time activist against both spam and junk faxes, received a default judgment of over $10 million against high profile spammer Robert Soloway and his company Newport Internet Marketing. Soloway has frequently been cited as one of the ten largest spammers in the world."

Read more over at Circleid.com

Tags: spam, soloway, oklahoma, junk

New anti-spam efforts hampering email

According to a report by Bigfoot Interactive, email marketers who don't adjust for changes many broadband ISPs are making regarding limits on simultaneous SMTP connections and volume rates are in for some serious deliverability problems Providers, such as BellSouth, Comcast, and RoadRunner are implementing the procedures to cut down on bulk spam.

For information about anti spam software and email filtering solutions, contact Securence.com at 1.866.200.9013.

Yahoo helping spammers and phishers?

Yahoo is really catching a lot of negative press as a result of comments made by Spamhaus regarding the hosting of 5000 domain names that are used for phishing.

"According to the Richard Cox, chief information officer of U.K.-based Spamhaus, Yahoo! has nearly 5,000 domains hosted and registered with the words “bank,” “eBay,” and “PayPal” within the domain name. “I just took three hot words, but there are dozens of others including misspellings. They are mostly phishing Websites, which shows that the situation is out of control," Cox told an audience at the eConfidence--Spams and Scams conference in London earlier this week, according to press reports."

Full Article at Multichannel Merchant. Also try Technorati

For more information regarding anti spam and anti virus solutions, contact Securence at 1.866.200.9013

Suckers For Spam

It's amazing people still fall for email spam and phishing techniques. Here's an account of an unlucky record producer in CA that fell for the old Nigerian money transfer scam:

Hard as it is to believe for long-time Internet denizens, online scammers and spammers are still reaping rewards from the community at large.

Last week's bizarre tale of a Los Angeles record producer claiming he was being chased by Nigerian scam artists is a high-profile example of the pervasiveness of the activities still evident today.

According to a report by the L.A. Times Sunday, Christian Irwin was found after a five-day search initially prompted by the producer's disappearance and a frantic phone call he made to friends.

According to the report, friends and family said Irwin had become involved in an Internet scam that paid him to transfer money from Nigeria to the U.S.

He panicked when the scam artists demanded repayment of $50,000, the report continued, and phoned a friend to say he thought he was being chased by Nigerian scam artists. He was found Sunday alive in a stream near his house.

The Nigerian e-mail fraud scheme is one of the oldest tricks in the Internet scam book, earning its own advisory Web page on the U.S. Secret Service's site. Also called an advance fee fraud or 419 scheme, after the Nigerian penal code for fraud, the Secret Service believes the Nigerian e-mail scam has bilked hundreds of millions of dollars annually from users.

Here's how it works. Link to full story at EnterpriseITPlanet.com

Tags: anti spam, phishing

Florida state lawmakers join fight against spam

Two Florida legislators want to "slam spam," adding criminal penalties to those caught flooding inboxes with junk messages that are "false, misleading and unsolicited."

State Rep. Ari Abraham Porth, D-Coral Springs, already has filed his bill HB 45; www.myfloridahouse.gov/) and State Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-West Palm Beach, is preparing a Senate version. Penalties, up to a felony, would be based on volume: 10,000 in a 24-hour period, 100,000 in 30 days, 1-million in a year.

In a news release, Port acknowledged the difficulty of tracking down spammers, but said "we must enact laws to protect our most vulnerable residents from unscrupulous con artists and thieves."

Keep reading on St. Petersburg Times.

Posts by Securence : Spam Filters

Tag: spam 

It's a bull market for stock spam

The volume of stock scam spam has risen, posing a new threat to investors, warns a new study

Though traditional spam categories -- medication, mortgage and pornography -- continue to dominate, new ones such as stock scams are growing, according to the study, which covered the first six months of 2005.

Medications, including unbranded versions of Viagra, accounted for 40 percent of all spam traffic, the study said. This was followed by mortgages at 11 percent and porn at 9.5 percent. Stock-related spam came in fourth place at 8.5 percent of the total spam traffic. The volume of "pump-and-dump" stock scam e-mail has increased at an average rate of 10 percent per month.

Posts by Securence : Spam Filters

Court deals blow to dating-service spammer

An online dating service does not have the right to blast unsolicited e-mail at thousands of University of Texas e-mail addresses, a federal appeals court ruled.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday that the university did not run afoul of federal law or the U.S. Constitution when blocking a torrent of spam from White Buffalo Ventures' LonghornSingles.com site.

The University of Texas may "implement the Regents' Rules without violating" spammers' rights, a three-judge panel unanimously concluded.

White Buffalo, an Austin, Texas, start-up that boasts of making "a ton of moolah" by promoting relationship-based Web sites, began its bulk e-mail campaign in February 2003 by filing a freedom of information request that gave it nearly all the university's e-mail addresses. Two months later, it began deluging the school's servers with commercial solicitations--and had its Internet addresses blocked after refusing to stop when asked.

Most spammers might halt their efforts at that point, but White Buffalo was unusually determined. It filed a lawsuit against the University of Texas and sought a court injunction protecting what amounted to a right to spam--citing both the federal Can-Spam Act and the First Amendment, which broadly limits a government university's ability to restrict free speech.

Keep Reading on News.com

Posts by Securence : Spam Filters

Tags: spam, texas, austin, white buffalo, university

FTC: Top Retailers Comply With CAN-SPAM Opt-Out

A Federal Trade Commission survey of top online merchants released yesterday found that most were complying with provisions in the CAN-SPAM Act requiring them to honor consumer opt-out requests.

The FTC developed a list of 100 top online retailers, then created three e-mail addresses. The agency registered each address to receive e-mail promotions, offers and newsletters from each of the 100 retailers.

After monitoring the three e-mail addresses for six weeks, the FTC sent opt-out messages to each retailer from each address. According to the FTC, 89 percent ceased e-mails to all three addresses, while 93 percent stopped e-mailing at least some of the accounts.

All the merchants complied with the CAN-SPAM requirement to clearly display opt-out notices in outbound marketing e-mails, the FTC said.

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Posts by Securence - Anti Spam Software

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Spam Moving from Email to Cell Phones

Spam is starting to move more and more from e-mail to the cell phone.

What can you do to protect yourself from spam text messages? First, if it gives you a message to return the call, don't call back. The number may be offshore, meaning you'll be charged big bucks.

Also, document everything. Write down the date, time, the message, all the information on the message. Then file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission online. It only takes a few minutes and it's easy.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Marketers Use Spam to Target Cell Phones

Marketers are using unsolicited e-mails to target cell phone users. Experts recommend “Don’t call back.”

The e-mails often start with a message telling the cell phone subscriber they have won a prize. Depending on the cell phone company, the user may be charged for incoming text messages. 

Privacy rights experts recommend not calling back because a subscriber's information can be sold to other telemarketers.

"If it says you won a great prize, call us at 1-800 or 1-900, don't call them back," said Beth Givens, of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. "It could be an overseas exchange that will cost you a lot of money."

Cell phone users can file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission or report the problem to their cell phone service provider.

Full article at NBC Sandiego .

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

'Spam Report' Trojan Spreading Quickly

A new onslaught of spam e-mails containing malicious Trojan software has been sent to up to 400,000 addresses. The Trojan e-mails claim to be from a member of the recipient's I.T. team warning that their system has been compromised and is distributing spam. The e-mails, which carry the subject line "Spam Report," were first detected at 3.25 a.m. July 7, 2005.

The attachment, which contains Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Small.arf, is a small executable report.log.exe file of 16 KB size. If executed, it downloads harmful content from an external Web site.

The e-mails use typical social engineering techniques designed to encourage recipients to download the Trojan attachment. The message body reads:

"Your e-mail account was used to send a huge amount of unsolicited spam messages during the recent week. If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and confirm the attached document so you will not run into problems with the online service. If you choose to ignore our request, you leave us no choice but to cancel your membership. Virtually yours, Network Administrator Team."

Posts by Securence - Anti Spam Software

Yahoo and Cisco combine their antispam technologies

JUNE 02, 2005 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Yahoo Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. are combining their antispam technologies to create a new e-mail authentication system, they announced this week.

The system, called DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), will draw on Yahoo's DomainKeys authentication technology and Cisco's Internet Identified Mail. The technology will be offered to other industry players on a royalty-free basis in an effort to reduce the amount of spam spread across the Internet, the companies said.

E-mail authentication is important because spammers and online criminals often used forged e-mail addresses to send unwanted messages.

Yahoo's DomainKeys uses public-key cryptography to authenticate the sender of an e-mail at the domain level. The sending system generates a signature and inserts it in the e-mail header while the receiving system verifies the signature using a public key published in the Domain Name System.

Cisco's authentication technology also uses cryptography but associates the signature with the message itself. In its system, the sending server signs the message and inserts the signature and pubic key used to create it in a new and additional header. The receiving system then verifies that the public key used to sign the message is authorized for use by the sending e-mail address.

DomainKeys Identified Mail will combine aspects of both of these authentication systems. It will use the Domain Name System in the same manner as DomainKeys, to verify signatures using the published public key, but will also draw on Cisco's header signing technology to ensure consistency as messages are sent through the system.

It wasn't immediately clear how the new technology would fit in with the companies' prior work on authentication systems, however. Yahoo has already implemented DomainKeys into its Yahoo Mail service and offers the technology royalty-free to other industry players.

The Sunnyvale, Calif., Internet company said it receives more than 350 million messages a day signed by DomainKeys, but didn't say whether it plans to replace the technology once DKIM becomes available.

Cisco released an open source implementation of Identified Internet Mail late last year.

Originally Found Here

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Posts by Securence - Anti Spam Software

Microsoft pushes spam-filtering technology

If your e-mail does not have a Sender ID, Microsoft wants to junk your message.

Sometime around November, Hotmail and MSN will flag as potential spam those messages that do not have the tag to verify the sender, Craig Spiezle, a director in the technology care and safety group at the software maker said Wednesday. The move is meant to spur adoption of Sender ID, he said.

Sender ID is a specification for verifying the authenticity of e-mail by ensuring the validity of the server from which the e-mail came. While the purpose of curbing junk mail may be laudable, the debate on how to stop the tide of junk mail is still ongoing. According to Microsoft, up to 90 percent of e-mail is spam.

Read more of the article at ZDnet.
Learn more about email filtering software at Securence.

Major Spam Purveyor Agrees To Pay Settlement

Nearly $500,000 the defendent will pay to settle charges he caused $5.9 million in consumer injury with spam schemes involving anti-aging and weight-loss products. 

Creaghan A. Harry is getting off easy. The accused spammer and perpetrator of fraud, based in Boca Raton, Fla., has agreed to settle charges brought against him by the Federal Trade Commission for $485,000, less than a tenth of the estimated $5.9 million consumer injury the FTC attributes to his sham anti-aging and weight-loss products.

Harry gets to keep the bulk of his $2.4 million estate thanks to Florida's homestead and asset-protection laws. Though the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, signed into law in April, includes homestead-protection limitations that might have enabled the FTC to seek more of Harry's assets, the agency decided in a 4-to-1 vote not to risk the almost half-million-dollar settlement for a potentially larger sum.

Full article at InformationWeek.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Technology, Not FTC, Seen Best Hope For Solving Spam Crisis

Why you still get snowed with spam? Consider this: The Federal Trade Comission which is charged with implementing last year's CAN-SPAM Act, is still debating what a commercial e-mail is.

Despite the much ballyhooed act of Congress last year aimed at controlling spam, the unwanted and sometimes harmful electronic messages are still flowing freely. According to recent industry report, 73 percent of all e-mail worldwide was spam. That is 13 billion servings of spam day around the globe.

As the FTC seeks comments from the public on its latest tweaking of the CAN-SPAM Act this month, business and technology experts are coming to the realization that no legislation is going to turn off the spam spigot and that the solution is likely to come from technology.

Full article at Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

 

Michael Jackson Spam Hides Virus

A Windows e-mail virus is trying to con victims by claiming that Michael Jackson attempted suicide.

The message hopes to catch people's attention because of the huge interest in the on-going child abuse trial.

The fake message contains a web link that supposedly links to Mr Jackson's suicide note.

But anyone clicking on the link will have their PC invaded by a virus that gives others access to that machine.

Full article at BBC News.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Canadian Feds Ponder Spam Options

A Canadian task force, who was enlisted to draft recommendations to combat spam, has finally submitted its report to the country's Minister of Industry, according to an article in ClickZ. (The group had previously set up the May 2004 Anti-Spam Action Plan for Canada to evaluate existing legislation and make recommendations for revisions and new laws to reduce spam.

The report calls for additional government legislation to advance prohibition of spamming activities and establish appropriate penalties, enforcement mechanisms, and industry standards to fight spam. It also recommends practices on business conduct, public education and awareness, and international cooperation with regard to spam.

Canada's existing laws include the Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Task force member and chair of the board of directors for the Canadian Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE) Neil Schwartzman feels the laws are only peripherally applicable to the spam problem.

"Basically we have seen, with a few exceptions, a handful of rulings about spam in this country and it is not yet dissuading spammers to shut down," said Schwartzman.

Full story at ClickZ.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Look-Alike Spam Keeps Surfacing, Don't Fall Prey

Be on the alert for official-looking e-mails that are actually spam sent by sophisticated identify thieves trying to trick you out of personal information that can be used to drain your bank account, fraudulently get credit cards and commit other crimes, according to the California Office of the Attorney General.

Small and large companies have been spoofed, such as PayPal, Bank of America, Best Buy and First Union Bank. The e-mail received look like they may be coming from the company with whom you do business and even use a URL that looks like the real thing but it's not.

Don't be fooled! The scam is commonly called "brand spoofing" or "phishing" because the spam mail sent uses familiar or legitimate-sounding names of companies to trick consumers into disclosing confidential personal information. The e-mail may use all or part of a legitimate company's name, and the hyperlink may closely resemble its web site, complete with company logo and color schemes that make it look like close to the real thing. For instance, the Earthlink.net spoof used a URL like www.earthlinkservice.com.

To learn more about what to do and what to look out for, see full story Community Dispatch.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

GoogleGuy Calls Out AdSense Spam Sites

According to a story posted in Web Pro News, a number of web sites were developed for purposes of receiving ad clicks. These spam sites generate erroneous content (if they aren't scraping it from another source) and place AdSense ads in order to trick visitors into clicking the ads so the spam site developer can benefit financially.

These sites are affectionately called AdSense Spam Sites, and they exist only for fraudulent click purposes. These spam sites only benefit the user brazen enough to employ them. Because these types of sites seem to be permeating throughout search engine results, they have become much more of a nuisance... and not just to searchers either.

GoogleGuy, a Google employ that contributes to a number of search-related forums, was conducting a Q and A session on the WebmasterWorld forums when this particular topic was brought up. Much to no one's surprise, GG indicated that he despised these types of sites, which probably means Google does too.

Because GG's answers and responses usually provide a good barometer of Google's position, it's quite reasonable to assume Google is preparing to do something about these types of sites. What that is exactly is anyone's guess, however.

Perhaps Google will employ their human editors to weed out these types of sites?

Full story at Web Pro News.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Cell Phone Firms Adopt Spam Rules

Report: New guidelines cover unsolicited spam, opt-out requirements, ads and promotional programs.

In a recent story in CNN Money, the nation's leading cell phone service providers have adopted the first set of guidelines for mobile marketing, according to a report by AdAge.com.

The "Consumer Best Practices Guidelines for Cross-Carrier Mobile Content Services" covers unsolicited messages, opt-out requirements, advertising and promotional programs, the report said.

The guidelines were jointly developed with the Mobile Marketing Association.

"The purpose of the Mobile Marketing Association is to safeguard this new form of spam that is literally in your face," said Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a Ralph Nader group that monitors advertising.

"All the major carriers were the driving force behind the guidelines," said Mark Desautels, vice president of wireless Internet development for CTIA, the wireless association, formerly known as the Cellular Technology and Internet Association.

Desautels said customer service concerns led carriers such as Cingular Wireless, Nextel (Research), Sprint (Research), T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless (Research) to abide by the guidelines to avoid situations where "people are running up $500 for services they didn't realize they subscribed to."

According to the report, text messaging and other cell phone services beyond making voice calls are starting to generate major revenues for carriers, between 5 and 10 percent, Desautels said.

Full story at CNN Money.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

South Florida: Spam Capital Of World

In a recent article at Local10.com, there are more spammers in the South Florida tri-county than anywhere else on earth. And so, South Florida has earned a new title as “Spam Capital of the World.”

According to the watchdog group Spamhaus, more than a quarter of about 180 hardcore spammers are based in Florida, and most of them are in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.

The tri-county area is home to more spammers than any country, according to the watch dog group. And it's not just the annoying pitches for mortgages and sex pills. Increasingly, law enforcement officials are finding that junk e-mail is a favored weapon of predators and an easy way for criminals to target a world of potential victims from behind a wall of anonymity.

The city with the most spammers in the world is Boca Raton. Eleven are listed by Spamhaus as based there, though anti-spam groups say they think that figure misses dozens who send spam at least part-time.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

New Technical Report from Stanford Discusses Link Spam

The Stanford InfoLab has just posted a new 22 page technical report titled, "Link Spam Alliances." It might be of interest to some of you.

From the abstract:

Link spam is used to increase the ranking of certain target web pages by misleading the connectivity-based ranking algorithms in search engines. In this paper we study how web pages can be interconnected in a spam farm in order to optimize rankings. We also study alliances, that is, interconnections of spam farms. Our results identify the optimal structures and quantify the potential gains. In particular, we show that alliances can be synergistic and improve the rankings of all participants. We believe that the insights we gain will be useful in identifying and combating link spam.

The paper includes a focus on how, "link spammers manipulate PageRank scores."

Full Text: Link Spam Alliances (PDF).

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

E-mail Users Getting More Spam But Less Annoying, Study Says

According to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, e-mail users are showing a slight increase in spam. Yet, ironically, they are more tolerant of the unsolicited messages than they were a year ago. How can this be so?

In personal e-mail accounts, which typically get more spam than work accounts, 28% of users say they were getting more spam, 22% say they were getting less spam, and 47% say they’ve seen no change in volume, the survey found. In work accounts, 21% say they were getting more spam, 16% say they were getting less spam, and 53% reported no change.

At the same time, 53% say they are less trusting of e-mail because of spam, down from 62% a year ago; 22% say spam has reduced their overall use of e-mail, compared to 29% a year ago; and 67% say being online is unpleasant because of spam, down from 77% a year earlier.

Despite the declines, the report showed that spam is still the primary issue for 52% of users.

E-mail users also reported a significant decline in pornographic spam, with 63% reporting receiving porn spam, compared with 71% last year.

35% of e-mail users report receiving unsolicited e-mails requesting personal financial information, so-called phishing, with 2% saying they provided information.

Pew based its findings on a nationwide phone survey of 1,421 Internet users between Jan. 13 and Feb. 9.

Full story at Internet Retailer.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Spam Hurting Developing Countries Most, Says OECD

According to a new report [pdf] by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), while spam may be a problem on a global scale, it is hurting Internet users in developing countries more so than in industrialized nations.

Numerous underdeveloped countries, especially in Africa and Asia, lack the knowledge, technology and money to effectively combat the growing flow of junk e-mail over their domestic communication networks. As a result, users in these regions suffer from more outages and less reliable service, and are often distrustful of the Internet -- all factors that threaten to widen the global digital divide.

Full story at TechWorld.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Simple Step Keeps Hard Drive From Filling Up With Spam

James Coates of the Chicago Tribune answers a reader’s mail with some practical steps on how to deal with spam.
 

Q. Every day I delete spam. Today it was 66, a record. Yesterday Outlook Express wanted to compress the files. Is this stuff filling up my hard drive? How can I get rid of it and stop the incoming without changing my Internet service provider?

Bob Stump@camtel.net

A. I wish I could just tap out a paragraph or two and tell the world how to eliminate spam, Mr. S., but that's a question that people far more adept than Mr. Computer Answer Person have failed to solve for years now.

As you note, though, in addition to becoming an obnoxious time sink, spam also clutters up hard drive real estate even if one has anti-spam shields in place and set all the way up to Kill all Klingons.

The junk, as you note, gets saved into the default Deleted Items folder, or in a special folder designated for spam that folks set up using various rules to identify and quarantine unwanted messages.

These folders are needed because there are times when even the best spam filters can attack messages that one really needs.

However, it is possible to permanently remove these deleted messages by the simple process of going to the Deleted Items folder and either delete one by one or tap Control + A to select all messages at once and then Control + X to kill them for good.

It's not a bad idea to do this every time the software pops up with an offer to compress the entire contents of the e-mail in an archive file.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Feds Fight the Zombies

Zombie networks have become a high priority for the Fed, who is expected to make an announcement tomorrow that requires more spam filter industry action.

The FTC and more than 30 of its counterparts abroad are planning to contact Internet service providers and urge them to pay more attention to what their customers are doing online. Among the requests: identifying customers with suspicious e-mailing patterns, quarantining those computers and offering help in cleaning the zombie code off the hapless PCs.

Full article at News.com.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

The Walking Dead of Spam

Zombies. Viruses infect a computer and then sit dormant until the master sends instructions. Many of these zombied hordes are sold to spammers to use to send their spams. The messages come from IP addresses that haven't been used before to send spam so they aren't on any RBL lists. They send out from all the zombies all at the same time instead of from a small number of servers. This means that the spam window is much shorter.

Securence is able to deal with this first because we usually will already block those messages using our signature system. If we don't have a signature that matches, then we watch our spam traps 24/7 and deploy a fast turnaround time in getting new signatures in place.

-- By Ryan Krueger, Securence Staff

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

FTC Aims to Tweak CAN-SPAM Act

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering making some changes to the CAN-SPAM Act by June 27. They hope to better clarify the steps by which a recipient can opt-out of receiving spam and reduce the time limit for honoring an opt-out request.

The CAN-SPAM Act, also known as the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act, came into effect in January 2004.

According to the article, these include clarifying the definitions of the terms “person” and “sender” – to help in cases where multiple parties are advertising in a single e-mail message – and “valid physical postal addresses”.

It is also proposing to shorten from 10 days to three the time a sender may take before honoring a recipient's opt-out request; and to ensure that when submitting a valid opt-out request, a recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her email address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply email message or visiting a single web page.

Critics have accused the Act of being narrow and weak.

Full article at The Register.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Admins Try Another Weapon Against Spam

Spam is showing no sign of letting up. System administrators are now beginning to turn to one more weapon -- greylisting, a technique which some have found to be remarkably successful. According to the artcile in The Age, greylisting worked for IT Admins beacuse it kept track of how many times a particular combination of IP address, sender and recipient had appeared.

Full article at The Age.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

FTC Seeks Comment on CAN-SPAM Changes

The Federal Trade Commission sought comments recently on proposed changes to the rules enacted under the CAN-SPAM anti-spam legislation, including one that would require e-mailers to comply more quickly with opt-out requests.

Rule changes proposed by the FTC could affect how the CAN-SPAM Act is enforced. The proposals include:

· Shortening the time an e-mail sender has to comply with an opt-out request from 10 to three days.

· Clarifying that it is illegal to require e-mail recipients wishing to opt out from marketing e-mails to pay a fee, provide information other than e-mail address and opt-out preferences or take any action besides replying to an e-mail or visiting a Web site.

· Clarifying that P.O. boxes and private mailboxes meet the requirement for a "valid physical address" under the CAN-SPAM Act.

· Defining the term "sender" as used in CAN-SPAM to clarify which party associated with a marketing e-mail is responsible for compliance.

· Defining the term "person," which is used repeatedly in the language of the CAN-SPAM Act but not clearly defined.

The FTC will accept comments until June 27. Comments may be filed online here.

The full text of the proposed changes can be found in PDF by clicking here.

 

The Dirty Little Secret About Spam

New Yorker Andy Sernovitz has got a big beef with spam.

"The Internet industry doesn't get it," he complains. "Arguably, spam is the single biggest threat to this industry. It's the defining issue. Advertisers are losing their shirts, and people are getting photos of twisted sex acts. The fact that the industry can't get its testicles out of its pocket to do something about it is an embarrassment. It's a tragedy that I have to do this myself."

And so he has co-founded the Inbox Defense Task Force, which will, he fully expects, throttle spam at the source.

Full article at Fast Company.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

How Spam Complaints Affect Delivery

This is a very useful article on spam. It addresses anti spam issues such as how users report spam, how to monitor spam complaints, how ISPs use spam complaints, and how to minimize spam complaints, to mention a few.

Every e-mail marketer receives spam complaints. It doesn't matter if you use confirmed opt-in or have never seen a complaint in your life. Your messages do get complaints. Unless you use an e-mail service provider (ESP) or your ESP doesn't provide these services, you might not have immediate access to these complaints.

Spam complaints are a useful metric for two reasons. First, they indicate how closely you follow best practices. Second, ISPs and anti-spam services use them to filter and even to block messages. Today, a look at where complaints generate, how they're used, and what you can do to minimize them.

Full article at ClickZ.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

Spam Blacklisting for 1 Million Telewest Customers

Company spokesperson says action is "heavy-handed."

One million Telewest customers have been blacklisted for sending spam by one of the most powerful anti-spam organizations on the web.

The Spam Prevention Early Warning System (SPEWS), whose blacklist is referenced by many anti-spam controls, imposed the block in response to the high number of Telewest customers whose machines have become compromised and taken over for the purpose of sending spam.

Full story at Silicon.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

AOL Treats Fla. Emergency E-Mails As Spam

What an unlikely turn of events for the citizens of Indian River County, Forida, who are still suffering from those nasty tropical storms of 2004.

Emergency managers in Indian River County, hard-hit by hurricanes last year, thought the best way to get out weather alerts was by e-mail until they learned that AOL was tagging the messages as spam.

"Because we send out mail in large numbers, it becomes a pattern for spam senders," said Basil Dancy, a county computer software engineer.

The problem started last year with frequent alerts during an unusually busy hurricane season when four major storms hit Florida, including two Frances and Jeanne that swept over Indian River County with winds above 100 mph.

Full story at ABC News.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

CNN on the Spam Attack?

Rumors are circulating in the blogsphere about a bizzare viral marketing campaign involving CNN. The rumoers are suggesting that CNN may be promoting their cable channel or squelching criticism of it -- or perhaps both at the same time.

Earlier this month, blogger Nick Lewis noticed a strange post about CNN on his blog. The comment was critical of some new shows on CNN, but also included detail about the shows, their show times and the anchors hosting them. The same terms were repeated over and over, making it appear like spam. Something was not right.

Full story at  Wired News.

Tags:  anti-spam, antispam, spam

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