October 2008
39 posts
Google Webmaster Central: Keeping comment spam off... →
Jason Morrison shares some tips on avoiding comment spam — all of which can help with other web form attacks, too.
(via DirectNews)
Washington Post Security Fix: Microsoft,... →
“Microsoft Corp. and the state of Washington this week filed lawsuits against a slew of…scam artists who use fake security alerts to frighten consumers into paying for worthless computer security software.”
Finally!
Freedom to Tinker: Popular Websites Vulnerable to... →
“We found four major vulnerabilities on four different sites. These vulnerabilities include what we believe is the first [Cross-Site Request Forgery] vulnerability that allows the transfer of funds from a financial institution. We contacted all the sites involved and gave them ample time to correct these issues. Three of these sites have fixed the vulnerabilities listed below, one has...
September 2008
55 posts
Terry Zink: Stopping bots from abusing webmail →
some interesting ideas, and some surprisingly antagonistic comments
Guardian (AP): Congress sending child porn bills... →
“Currently, Internet service providers are required to report child pornography to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The legislation would expand those companies with reporting obligations to include search engines such as Google and Yahoo!, social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, domain name registrars and wireless phone carriers.”
(via DomainNews,...
Deliverability.com: FBL Mantra →
“My good friends in the industry have really stepped up to share their knowledge to those who are new to the delivery/email job and in many cases to those who are interested in what the deliverability people do everyday….”
Not Always Right: And We Wonder Who Clicks On... →
PEBCAK (or is it?)
(also: part 1)
Xinhua: China tells netizens it's fighting flood... →
“According to a May report…cell phone users were each receiving about 13 spam text mails every week as of the end of 2007, up 50 percent year on year.”
Word to the Wise: The Question →
Laura asks an important question.
The Technology Liberation Front: The Safety Chase:... →
“Discussions focused mostly on what technical solutions exist for addressing the perceived lack of online safety on social networking websites. But overall there’s still a need to connect the most important dot—do proposed solutions actually make children safer?”
CDT PolicyBeta: AT&T, Verizon Back Opt-In Approach... →
TheStar.com: PM targets spam, gouging →
“In an appeal for support from consumers annoyed by high gas prices and computer spam, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says if re-elected he would move to curb Internet abuses, outlaw charges for unsolicited commercial text messages and send inspectors to check the accuracy of gas pumps.”
I’m fairly certain that this is the first time a major politician in any country has made...
Washington Post Security Fix: Internet Shuns U.S.... →
“A California based commercial Internet service provider whose clients included a laundry list of spammers and scammers is now offline, after the last of the company’s upstream Internet providers decided to the pull the plug.”
Though we came close in the late 1990s, this is the first time that a sizable network provider has been kicked entirely offline for being a bad citizen.
AOL Postmaster: Submit Your Dynamic Ranges to the... →
Angry Bear: Your Urgent Help Needed →
“I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.”
IOL: Programme offers rewards to beat spam →
South African “Spammer Bounty Hunter Programme offers a reward to members of the public who provide information that leads to successful prosecution….”
Telegraph: BBC customers deluged by spam after... →
“A spokesman for the Corporation confirmed that members of the public had been affected after their details were hijacked from a list of people who had signed up to receive information about next month’s BBC Electric Proms music festival.”
Information Policy: Spam Laws In Romania →
‘Spam is not explicitly defined by Romanian law but the e-commerce law states that the distribution of “unsolicited commercial communication sent via e-mail” is strictly forbidden. Commercial communications via e-mail are permissible when the recipient agreed to the receipt thereof.’
In other words: opt-in. See article for more details.
PC World: Timberland Pays out to Settle Text Spam... →
“Timberland and GSI deny that they’ve done anything wrong and blamed a third-party company that they say was supposed to secure consent from the people who received the messages….”
The McGill Daily: Concordia admin gets one spam... →
The Onion: Obama Deletes Another Unread MoveOn.org... →
“After receiving yet another unwanted e-mail from liberal political action group MoveOn.org Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama deleted the message from his inbox without even glancing at its contents.”
The Email Wars: Email Client Market Share Report →
According to this study, Hotmail is more popular than Outlook for business users. Who knew?
Seth's Blog: How often should you publish? →
“
A lot of the stuff marketers make is unanticipated, impersonal, irrelevant junk that consumers merely tolerate.
But some of it is not spam, it’s content. Stuff worth reading, worth paying for (at the very least, worth paying attention to.)”
Seth discusses how often you should publish (or send) real content.
Washington Post Security Fix: Fake Antispyware... →
“A cyber gang known for aggressively spreading fake anti-spyware programs through hijacked and malicious Web sites has become an authorized reseller of domain names.”
BtoB Magazine: Election ’08: The candidates’... →
“B-to-b marketers aren’t the only ones who make mistakes with their e-mail efforts.”
Computerworld UK: Hackers hit Large Hadron... →
“Hackers have broken into the network of the Swiss particle-physics laboratory operating the Large Hadron Collider that began smashing atoms this week.”
(via fergdawg)
CircleID: Rising Concerns Over UN Anti-Cyberattack... →
‘At an up coming ITU meeting in Geneva next week, telecommunication experts will be discussing draft recommendation of “IP Traceback” use case and requirements, looking at ways to identify the source of packets sent across IP (Internet Protocol) networks.’
Christian Science Monitor: Wanted: Metaphors for... →
“Because of its abstract nature, most legislation affecting computers works through metaphors. …The hard part is getting everyone to agree on the right metaphor…the legal community still cannot settle on a good real-world equivalent to spamming.”
ZDNet: Spamming vendor launches managed spamming... →
ESPs, meet your new competiton.
“The market segment for managed spamming services is still in its introduction stage, with several unique providers…whose do-it-yourself systems and zero complexity mentality are poised to empower many new entrants into the spamming business.”
CNET News: Why Virginia is right to overturn spam... →
Return Path: Why it doesn't matter that the... →
We Like Balls: Ken Magill is Stupid Poopyhead →
Ken Magill has always loved to tweak the noses of anti-spammers, usually by pretending he thinks we’re all in complete agreement with the most myopic and illogical voices in the community.
In this article on his personal blog, long-time spamfighter Neil Schwartzman lays out a convincing argument that this unnecessary meanness “exacerbate[s] deep divisions we must pave over if we are...
Windows Live Hotmail Technical Support Blog:... →
How phishers operate, described in a way the average Hotmail user could understand. Brilliant!
CircleID: Soon in a Mail Box Near You:... →
Soon, it will be “possible to send email messages to non-7 bit ASCII addresses e.g. måtte@københavn.dk or 中国@中国.中国 .”
Exactly when that will happen is uncertain. There’s now a standard way to do it, but an unimplemented standard is like a tree falling in the woods with nobody around to hear.
The Technology Liberation Front: Privacy Solutions... →
Adam Thierer & Berin Szoka provide an illuminating look into the history of online privacy & regulation.
Security Fix: Scammer-Heavy U.S. ISP Grows More... →
After a study of Atrivo/Intercage showed a long, nasty history of that company being “…a virtual magnet for cyber-criminal operations”, some of their network peers & backbone providers have stopped carrying their traffic. Brian Krebs explains how this works, including an interesting visual aid.
Return Path: How Good Results Today Can Mask Big... →
“For too many marketers, email revenue per subscriber is not growing and more and more subscribers are simply ignoring our messages. That is because most email marketing today is pretty terrible. It’s irrelevant, poorly timed, creatively uninteresting and completely generic. The vast majority of us still follow a batch and blast broadcast approach that will never make our email...
Email Marketing Reports: Why you should listen,... →
“You’re not following best practices, yet your email marketing program is successful. So why change?”
Consumerist: "How Do I Stop Fax Spam?" →
vnunet.com: Dramatic rise in botnet-controlled PCs →
“Recent figures…reveal that the number of computers infected by botnets has quadrupled in the past 90 days. The increase comes despite a slight drop in the number of botnets, leading researchers to believe that the increase has largely benefited the established operators in the field. The increase has also come despite little to no increase in the volume of new malware and viruses...
KnujOn: Phantom Registrars, Fake Pharmacies, and... →
“KnujOn has found at least 48 ICANN-accredited Registrars that do not seem to exist. All of the Registrars in question are affiliated with the Directi Group…”
Spamhaus: Cybercrime's U.S. Hosts →
Spamhaus is naming names.
CircleID: Public Sharing and a New Strategy in... →
Gadi Evron describes the history of sharing botnet data, and calls for even more openness.
Cracked: Email Spamming 101: The A-Z Guide To... →
“With a little patience and some good ol’ fashioned elbow grease, you’ll be scamming senior citizens and mental defectives before you know it… and pulling down a seven-figure salary to boot! Let’s get started!”
Consumerist: Qwest Does Away With Support Via... →
“Your questions and concerns are very important to us, however we are no longer able to respond to email. Please consider the other contact options available.”
Perhaps email is dead after all.
Computerworld: The Future of E-mail →
a review of research big companies like Microsoft, IBM, and HP are doing on email