UGN Info Manager UGN Info Manager
The This Is True newsletter mentioned this web site over the holiday period. ScamBusters not only talks about spam and phising, but also looks at real world scams as well. They have a free newsletter that updates us on the latest scams. Check it out at: http://www.scambusters.org For more interesting sites from This Is True see their "Bonzer" site at ... www.BonzerSites.com
The Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who probably will run for governor has taken a stand against spam. He filed a lawsuit yesterday agains two Texas who are believed to be running one of the top four spamming companies in the country.
He says that they are in violation of the 2003 CAN spam law and is suing for $2 million each. Of course, they say that no law has been broken. Hope this helps slow down the growth of spam. But I doubt it. Read the Fort Worth version of the article, (free registration required) at ... www.dfw.com
"Spam King" Sanford Wallace has agreed to follow the terms of a temporary restraining order to stop installing spyware on computers without the permission of their owners.
The spyware that Wallace installed alegedly displayed advertisements for anti-spyware programs that Wallace was selling. The programs did what they promised to do --- they removed the programs that Wallace had installed. Hopefully there will be more to come. Read the full story at ... newsfactor.com
Microsoft announced last week a new service for MSN Hotmail users wanting to use Outlook to access and manage messages, contacts and calendar items. Called Microsoft Office Outlook Live, the service is Microsoft's first subscription offering for an Office application. For an annual subscription, users can download a special version of the Outlook 2003 e-mail client to use in conjunction with their Hotmail accounts. Until recently any POP client to access HotMail, but it was being used to generate a lot of spam. So they came up with this as an alternative. (No word on a Mac version.) Read more...
Our recent InfoManager post about "Aunty-Spam" brought a number of readers unable to find referenced Aunty Spam's Net Patrol article about hacker's bogus wi-fi hotspot's login pages. Here is the full article (again) aunty-spam.com
According to an article in The Register, Spamhaus accuses MCI of being on the wrong side of the fight against junk mail not just by hosting send-safe.com but becoming a safe haven for spammers in general. It estimates that MCI 'earns upwards of $5m a year' from selling service knowingly to known spam gangs. Maybe the new owner of MCI will change that. (Verizon and Qwest are both considering the purchase.) ... see the full story...
A recent computer poll has found that a majority of consumers say that the volume of spam in their inboxes has lessened and that the e-mail they get from companies they do business with has become more targeted and relevant over the past year. In my mind, the survey is suspect since it was sponsered by a company that does e-mail campaigns. What do you think? ... see the full story...
David Lazarus, San Francisco Chronicle, takes a careful look at the latest scams to hit online: "free iPod" offers. Tons and tons of spam hawking free iPods and all kinds of other products -- but then you sadly discover you've signed a contract that is anything but free. Read the article and -- BEWARE!
An e-mail boasting an exclusive offer of a free computer for NYU students that was sent earlier this month and made to look as if it was sent by the university e-mail system is just spam, university officials said. www.nyunews.com
This new internet protection suite includes all the tools needed to track spyware and combat phishing scams, spam to protect your identity. Phishing and harmful spyware are dramatically on the rise. Protect yourself. Read more...
Friday, a Virginia judge sentenced one of the top 10 spammers in the world to nine years in prison -- the first felony conviction for spam. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy: Jeremy Jaynes, named one of the top spammers by spam watchdog Spamhaus. This sleaze was convicted in November of using aliases to send more than 10 million e-mails a day. Jaynes, 30, of Raleigh, Va., allegedly made much as $750,000 per month through his spam operation. Jaynes' lawyers are appealing the case on grounds that the Virginia law under which he was prosecuted violated his free speech rights. But then, who's rights did HE violate with millions of spams?
Associated Press Writer, William J. Kole rants:
"In the greedy world of spam e-mail and electronic fraud, nothing is sacred - not even the death of Pope John Paul II."
It took less than a day for the online criminals to latch on to the Pope's death and begin spreading a worldwide bogus moneymaking scheme. These online criminals attempt to lure in their mark with an offer of free books about the pontiff. Stop calling them spammers. Call them what they are: criminals.
Bob Rankin of the Internet Tourbus has an article in his most recent newsletter warning of using public wireless sites, such as at Starbucks or Panera Bread. He was at a conference where one of the attendees used a sniffer program to obtain screen names and passwords of many of the atendees. So, it isn't too safe. He does have some recommendations and recommends Aunty Spam's Net Patrol site for an article about "evil-twin" web sites.
See more about the Internet Tourbus. (Note: this might be a good subject to discuss at you user group meeting.) And see the Aunty Spam article at: www.aunty-spam.com
The UG Network's Safe Netting department says: "this is an important message for all parents -- issues that should not -- cannot -- be ignored. You only have to look at one day's spam to see Rebecca Hagelin has good reason to be afraid. And you should be too. ... see the full story...
Since many people are under the false apprehension that the "spam epidemic" is over, we share these rather sobering charts from Message Labs; a company who filters more than 1.5 million subscribers' emails a day. Here's the latest Email Threats, and Virus Threats
Follow along if your head is not yet in the sand. www.messagelabs.com
Terrorists now use spam and Phishing to fund their terrorists activities around the globe. Do you want to support them? Online safety cannot be taken too seriously. Here's how to develop your Password to be uncrackable... so you won't be funding online and real world criminals. In UGN Safe Netting Department
... Trying to control Internet again, this time - e-mail -- Hotmail is known for its ruthlessness about spam. (I think that knowledge is still being spread.) Now the company is pushing through its Sender ID technology, which means the spoofed headers used by spammers and virus writers will now bounce, and Hotmail will inform you when this has happened.
Legitimate marketing services are among the most vocal in their dissent at the product and of course, there's no confirmation of what happens when Hotmail, along with Yahoo, occasionally "forgets" an address which you specifically marked as not being spam.
The problem is that the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as a proposed standard refused to ratify the standard and of course this will not stop Microsoft introducing it anyway through the millions of hotmail accounts which exist. This will force other ISPs to follow Microsoft's lead if they want their clients to be able to send e-mail to Hotmail accounts.
Read the full story at: www.pocket-lint.co.uk
(Please reprint in your newsletter)
We're been warning you about Phishing for two years now and while it's impossible to warn everyone, we all should do the best we can. Now, a new plague is on the horizon -- Pharming.
Read More
MailPop is "caller ID" for email -- this little Dashboard widget not only announces new mail but lets you see snippets of all the unread messages in your inbox. This version works with Google’s Gmail service. It's Compact. Click on the flag to expand and collapse MailPop. It's Secure. MailPop uses Keychain to store your password. It's Keyboard-friendly. Use the Home, End and arrow keys to move around your inbox. Press Enter to open Gmail in your browser... MailPop shows a picture of the message sender if one is found in Address Book so you know instantly if it's a spammer. Direct download SWF tutorial movie:... Dashboard MailPop
If you recieve e-mails from an organisation calling themselves “SPAMIS”, or the “Strategic Partnership Against Microsoft Illegal Spam”. (www.spamis.biz), dismiss them as spam and please report them to your ISP and/or SpamCop. A quick search on Google turns up plenty of results, a few of which elaborate extensively on the subject. SPAMIS was “founded” by Robert Soloway, a known and prolific spammer. Soloway is using the practice of spamming in order to undermine Microsoft's user-validation technology -- which would close the spammers' access to MSN.com email users. The irony of the issue is that Microsoft is trying to ram the technology down the throats of internet ISPs which if successful would effectively put the internet under MSN's control. See: the ROKSO list, and talkgold.com. Read more...
Friend and fellow spam fighter Bob Platt called one evening to say: "Fred, you should tune in to this TV show -- they're tracking down a spammer." So I watched NBC's "Dateline" with close attention. What I saw was not at all what I expected -- a prime-time TV show white-washing spam and online porno! 60-Second Window for August
Unless your filters are hiding your spam, you've probably seen the same ugly spams we picked up in our spam traps last Tuesday and Wednesday. Oddly enough none have been seen since then. Capitalizing on the the aftermath of hurricane Katrina is probably one of the lowest spam schemes.
DO NOT reply to any email urging you to donate to Katrina relief through an unrecognized web site. In fact, DO NOT OPEN email asking for donations. Period. Make donations through your preferred organization or these approved organizations: these approved organizations
The New York Times has an article about how to do back-ups. For both Macs and PCs. One point it makes is:
"But most of the experts (and amateurs too) wrote to say that it's not enough to back up your My Documents folder on Windows, because it doesn't include your e-mail, preference settings, programs, and a million other little changes that that you've made to your system. (Backing up your Home folder on the Macintosh is a much better bet, because it DOES contain all your e-mail and settings.)"
It is a good read with good advice. We all need regular backups. I recently purchased a flash drive to do that doing my Home folder. But I also would like to backup my music and photos. CDs can help with some of that, and most of my music came from CDs I already own. So really it is only the photos that I need to worry about. I think my next step is to get a Firewire drive to use as a mirror. But, I still need to think about an off premises copy.
Be aware, that the NYT is a big spammer, so it is best to use one of the alternative sign in codes that we have talked about in the past. Read more...
Something for everyone in this batch of shareware... NewsMac Pro 1.1 RSS reader * chartConstructor creates charts * PatternMaker PostScript patterns * Chameleon Photoshop plug-in * MacMemoriesManager Amateur Radio manager * JunkMatcher Bayesian spam filter * Rondo MIDI player for Mac OS X * SimpleMovieX movie editor * FTP Suite brings FTP to Basic * SafariSnapShotter 1.1 saves Safari tab-states * Feeder creates, edits, publishes RSS * Sinbad searches the Web -- see the Shareware Department
Sprint Nextel have now announced their own music-download services to compete with iTunes. The service will be supported by new mobile phones from Samsung and Sanyo. (Remember, we reported last year when Nextel was caught in league with spammers using their lists!) Read more...
Take any technology, no matter how cool it is, and criminals will figure out a way to exploit it for profit. Podcasting is no different. Yahoo Finance was the first to draw the media's attention to the latest and greatest thing for spammers, phishers and stalkers: Podcasting. ... see the full story...
Reader BJ Gillette sends this reference: It's social engineering at its finest. This Norwegian phisher almost makes you mad enough to click the Respond button before your brain clicks in. Never mind the fact that he spammed your an email account unknown to eBay. (BJ Gillette is Editor of trimMail's "Email Battles" with spam, security, privacy, spyware, phishing, and news every business day. eBay Phishing Story
Last week several posts from the CIA and FBI caught our attention in the spam traps and I had to look to see what it was all about. Attached was an unknown EXE file. The message said I had been looking at illegal Web sites and should answer some questions in the e-mail's attachment. In my ongoing rituals of tracking down spammers and phishers to report, I knew I had indeed visited many illegal sites.
Tracking the emails further I found that Symantec classified these emails as the "Sober" virus, rating it a "level 3" threat, with level 5 being the most severe. On Wednesday, Symantec said it has detected more than 1,600 potential threats from among its corporate customers, and over 300 from consumers in mid-November.
I checked the news feeds and found this Wired story by Munir Kotadia calling the virus "prolific" and capable of generating large volumes of email, causing problems for corporate e-mail gateways. ... see the full story...
According to Panda Titanium Antivirus and a number of other web indicators, a message about the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY is a hoax. It is a message with content aimed at deceiving users, therefore it is recommendable to ignore it and delete it. It reads something like this:
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
We happily announce to you the draw (#994) of the
UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program held on
13th October ,2005."
You will be asked to contact the "agent" so they can release your funds. Don't do it. Any email you get about the UK National Lottery, put it in the trash or report to SpamCop.
TheHawaiiChannel.com has reported that the Texas attorney general has sued a Kailua man for allegedly sending hundreds of thousands of spam e-mails to Texans. The suspect's name is Billy Williams and he's accused of sending the e-mails through a server in Dallas throughout 2004. The e-mails included offerings for mortgage refinancing, prescription drugs, anti-spy ware software and other products. They further discovered that Williams doesn't actually sell the products, instead he receives a commission for referring customers through a marketing firm.
Penalties: up to $10 per e-mail or $25,000 for each day under Texas laws.
Curtis Lum Staff Writer for the HonoluluAdvertiser.com has the best story on this...
We knew it wouldn't take long. Macnn has posted an article referencing AOL's annual spam survey. AOL says the iPod is now among top ten marketing ploys used by spammers. But it didn't take AOL to tell us that. These hucksters have even made it into the main stream of Google Ads. You'll see many offers saying you can get a free iPod, or Adobe Photoshop for $39, or free -- but don't believe them. You'll get spammed and scammed. The iPod Nano, PS3 and Xbox 360 are among the top of hundreds of billions of attempted spam messages targeting AOL users. Read more...
This InformationWeek article talks about China's new efforts to cut down on cell phone spam. Cell phones are the next frontier for spammers so, you'd better watch out. China will begin requiring prepaid cell-phone subscribers to register their devices using their real names in 2006. The article is by Gregg Keizer from TechWeb News
I have mentioned BugMeNot.com before. But it provides such a good service; I thought I would do it again. This site provides you with screen names and passwords to get into numerous web sites that require free registration. That way not only do you not have to go through the effort to register, you don't have to get all their 'spam'. Of course, it really isn't spam if you register, because you agreed to receive it, and that of their "agents" who buy your address. See how it works at: www.bugmenot.com
I don't know how many of you use Yahoo Groups. I know that some MUGS use it as a way to get its message out to its members. News groups on Usenet was my first introduction to DARPA net. The value of those groups live on in it original form, but for groups with less spam and adult graphics, Yahoo and Google groups support similar groups of people. I have been listed with Yahoo for some time, so haven't experienced the relative new comer of Google. Recently I used these groups to get an answer to a problem in Microsoft Excel, that reinforced my image as an Excel guru to my boss. But I also used a group on couponing specific to the DFW area to save lots of dollars each trip to the grocery store. Of course you can use the granddaddy of them all with a news group reader. You should check them out at: http://groups.yahoo.com groups-beta.google.com
Have a great week...
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