Email Security and Spam News

Hacking human gullibility with social penetration

We don't need no stinking exploits

Security penetration testers Mike Bailey and Mike Murray rely plenty on attacks that exploit weaknesses in websites and servers, but their approach is better summed up by the famous phrase "There's a sucker born every minute".…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work

Zombie tactics threaten to poison honeypots

Hive minds vs bot herders

Innovations in botnet technology threaten the usefulness of honeypots, one of the main ways to study how bot herders control networks of zombie PCs.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud

Scareware scams ride the back of killer whale tragedy

Black hats pee in the pool again

Supposed footage of Wednesday's fatal Sea World killer whale attack in Florida actually points at sites distributing scareware.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work

Spam filters stuff Canadian Beaver

Venerable magazine to adopt less suggestive title

Venerable Canadian publication The Beaver has been obliged to change its name after prudish spam filters objected to its suggestive title.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

Pharma link spammers invade Live Space

Fake blog posts spamvertise knock-off pills

Cybercrime affiliates of unlicensed pharmaceutical websites have begun moving on from attacks purely designed to poison Google search engine results, and are now targetting Microsoft's web properties.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud

Return of MP3 spam punts penis pill sites

When Harry Met Spammy

MP3 spam has made an unwelcome return, two years after the tactic was first used to spamvertise products and services.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud

Facebook sues social network spammers

Alleged anti-social behaviour provokes lawsuit

Facebook has launched lawsuits against a trio of alleged high profile hijackers and spammers.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work

Honeynet research lifts the lid on spam trends

Busy bees reveal a hive of junk mail activity

Stats from the one billion spam messages blocked by Project Honey Pot over the last five years provide an insight into junk mail trends and spamming practices.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work

Ruggedised botnets pushing out even more spam

Future rogue ISP takedowns unlikely to bring relief

Cybercrooks have adapted to the takedown of rogue ISPs by building more resilient botnets.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud

Anti-spammers urged to gang up

Test suggests collaboration is the way to fight the wrong'uns

The combined efforts of anti-spam products outperform any individual products alone, according to an experiment by Virus Bulletin, the independent security certification organisation.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud

Ralsky jailed for four years over stock fraud spam scam

Godfather of spam sent down

Notorious spammer Alan Ralsky has been jailed for more than four years over his role in a masterminding a stock fraud spam campaign that made him an estimated $2.7m.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

Spammers aim to profit from swine flu pandemic

Caution advised over modern day Harry Limes

Russian cybercrooks have laid the groundwork needed to build a business cashing in on swine flu panic-buying.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

Next generation spammers rise up in Asia, India and Brazil

High-speed broadband allows worldwide miscreanting

A new generation of spammers is rising up in regions such as Asia Pacific, Japan, and South America, and beginning to outstrip their North American counterparts in junk mail output.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud

Controversial email blocklist SORBS sold

GFI confirms purchase of reputation service

GFI Software has confirmed the purchase of sometimes controversial spam blocklist provider SORBS for a reported $451,000.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

Notorious Kiwi pill spammers slapped with fine

Herbal King dethroned

A gang of notorious spammers from Christchurch, New Zealand have been hit with fines in the first prosecution under the country's anti-spam laws.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing

Facebook awarded $711m in 'Spamford' Wallace case

Expects to receive almost nothing

Facebook has been awarded $711 million in damages against the infamous junk mail merchant, Sanford "Spamford" Wallace, who gained access to numerous accounts on the social website and sent phony messages to their friends.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

Telecoms reform tabled as EU plots spam clampdown

Italy praised and UK shamed over enforcement

The European Commission is calling on tougher action to fight spammers and protect online privacy.…

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YouTube video spam promotes Russian real estate

A different kind of viral video

Russian security researchers have discovered a spam campaign that points towards video ads hosted on YouTube.…

What is your recession sales strategy?

Spammers jump on Gmail, Hotmail mass-hack gravy train

Like manna from heaven

This week's airing of some 30,000 compromised Windows Live and Google Mail accounts has coincided with a spike in spam from those two services that promote sketchy electronics dealers, a researcher said.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

Gmail, AOL, Yahoo! all hit by webmail phishing scam

I can see my address from here

Update Google has confirmed that Gmail has also been targeted by an "industry-wide phishing scheme" which first hit Hotmail accounts. Yahoo! and AOL are also reportedly affected.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

Penis pill spam: The hard figures

$1,600 per spam run a day?

The economics of male enhancement pill spammers have been laid bare by security researcher Dmitry Samosseiko.…

What is your recession sales strategy?

Twitter-based mafia game irritates world+dog

An offer you can refuse

An annoying Twitter-based Mafia game is getting under the skin of users of the micro-blogging service, many of who would sooner it slept with the fishes.…

What is your recession sales strategy?

Worm wiggles through weary WordPress

Spam-friendly malware spanks Scoble blog

Hackers are exploiting older installations of WordPress to distribute blog comment spam and disguise links to malware-contaminated sites.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing

Anti-spam smackdown finds best junk filter

McAfee spanks all comers in early tests

McAfee has claimed the crown in a run-off of anti-spam products organised by Virus Bulletin, the independent security certification body.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work

US health-care debate clogged world's inboxes

Pharma-spam cashes in

When the US debates health care reform, the world's inboxes get clogged with health-related spam.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work

Obama site smackdown spam only offers malware

No DDoS! Denied!

Spam messages offering links to a tool designed to knock out the website of President Obama lead only to dodgy software.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work

Campaign Monitor reels from hack and spam attack

Australian mail marketing firm stumped

Australian email marketing application developers Campaign Monitor warned on Tuesday that it had been the victim of a hacking attack over the weekend.…

What is your recession sales strategy?

US appeals court cans CAN-SPAM suit

A farewell to litigation factories

In a decision that could make it harder for internet users to take spammers to court, a federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against a company that sent a man more than 13,000 unsolicited emails.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work

Twitter meltdown raises questions about site stability

Micro-blogging site knocked over by stiff burst of wind

The paralysing effect of an internet attack against Twitter has raised questions about the site's apparent fragility.…

What is your recession sales strategy?

Image spam: the threat returns

Did it ever go away?

Off we trot to the Reg Library to select some popular whitepapers for review. This week we mainline on email security, or to be more precise, email insecurity.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

Dutch spam suspect fined €250K

Clogged interwebs with 21m junk mails

Dutch telecoms regulators have fined a junk email spammer €250,000.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work

Swine flu malware poses as pig plague update

Telling porkies

Wrongdoers have created a new strain of swine flu-themed malware.…

What is your recession sales strategy?

MS sues ringtone firm over smut-punting IM spam scam

SPIM phishers feel the wrath of Redmond's lawyers

Microsoft has set its legal attack dogs on a Hong Kong distributor of mobile ringtones, over allegations that it has flooded Microsoft Live Messenger users with deceptive, fraudulent IM spam messages ultimately aimed at promoting online smut.…

What is your recession sales strategy?

High spam response powers junk mail economy

Lunkhead junk mail buyers come clean

Almost a third of consumers admit responding to messages that might be spam emails. Some acted out of curiosity or by mistake but a puzzling 96 from a sample of 800 (12 per cent) said they clicked because they interested in the product or service advertised in junk mail messages.…

What is your recession sales strategy?

Short URLs in spam skyrocket

The Twitter effect

Incidents of shortened URLs in spam messages have skyrocketed since the start of this week.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work

Spam levels bounce back after botnet takedown

Even botnets have backup now

Spam levels are returning to normal following the recent takedown of crime-friendly ISP 3FN, which temporarily interrupted the operation of a significant spam spewing botnet.…

What is your recession sales strategy?

Jackson mass mailer adds to attack onslaught

More zombies than the Thriller video

Miscreants have created a Michael Jackson mass-mailing worm.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud

China spam crisis provokes researcher's ire

Name and shame campaign aims to change attitudes

A security researcher is calling for action against Chinese internet firms which are failing to protect their services from abuse by cybercrooks.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud

Spammers swift to exploit Jackson death to punt malware

Who's bad?

Updated Miscreants have wasted no time exploiting the shock death of Michael Jackson to run email harvesting and banking Trojan campaigns.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

Notorious spammer Ralsky pleads guilty to stock scam

Father and son-in-law spammers face slammer

Notorious spammer Alan Ralsky faces up to 87 months' imprisonment after pleading guilty to participation in a pump-and-dump stock spam scam.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing

Bolivian TV falls for Air France crash hoax

Dramatic images of flight 447's last moments

Bolivian TV channel PAT has been left looking a bit daft after broadcasting extraordinary images of the last moments of Air France flight 447, lost over the Atlantic on 1 June:…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

Indian politico's webmail hacked to punt lost-wallet scam

PLEASE SEND $3,500. MOST GRACIOUS.

Fraudsters hacked into the webmail account of an Indian politician in a bid to sponge money from his contacts.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing

Pondlife scammers abuse Air France tragedy

Carradine death also cheap fodder

Cybercrooks are once again taking advantage of current events to push malware.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud

Junk email volumes hit high

Spam volume increases despite swine flu

Nine in ten emails in circulation are spam, according to the latest stats from email security services outfit MessageLabs.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

BNP pleads for cash after reported DDoS assault

'Largest cyber-assault in history'

Updated The website of the British National Party is back online following a reported distributed denial of service attack over the weekend.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

Twitter typosquatting site preys on gullible

Well, duh

Miscreants have launched an aggressive phishing attack that aims to dupe the unwary into handing over their login credentials for the microblogging service.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

Ford crushes half-price hybrid hoax

Credit crunch car sale nonsense quashed

Ford has stepped forward to debunk a hoax email suggesting the motor firm was selling new models of a hybrid car at half price in response to the global financial crisis.…

What is your recession sales strategy?

Under-caution spam faxer fined over £6,000

Debt firm fax up

A man who sent hundreds of spam faxes while under caution from privacy regulator the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) faces more than £6,000 in fines for his actions.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications

Football lottery scam targets UK punters

Big Cup con

Fans of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United are being targeted in a new email scam that attempts to trick recipients into sending premium rate text-messages in the hope of winning non-existent Champions League final ticket prizes.…

What is your recession sales strategy?

McAfee: Save the planet - use a spam filter

Junk mail makes monster carbon emissions? Oh noes!

Spam is more than a nuisance - it's damaging to the environment, according to net security firm McAfee.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing