RSSSpambots edge back online post-McColo
By Angela Gunn | Published November 26, 2008, 9:19 PM
It was just too good to last: Researchers report that spam levels that dropped in the wake of a high-profile takedown are edging back up -- and that a particularly pernicious botnet made it back online Wednesday night.
When two upstream providers chose to pull the plug on McColo earlier this month, the net at large enjoyed an unusual and slightly eerie quiet, as spam levels dropped by as much as 65%. At the time, anti-malware researchers suggested that we enjoy the peace while it lasted...
...because these guys keep coming back, like a cold sore or a creepy uncle at holiday dinners. Since the takedown, spam has been slowly seeping back into the ecosystem, but on Monday, the rates jolted sharply upward.
Matt Sergeant, senior anti-spam technologist at MessageLabs, has the unenviable job of watching the waters rise. He suggests that the botnet owners have, two weeks later, hooked up with new service providers.
"The Asprox and Rustock botnets are back with a vengeance after having found new command and control," Sergeant noted on Tuesday, saying that Mega-D and Warezov were clearly in action as well. "Cutwail never went away, and it seems its owners have used the opportunity to increase output."
But the megillah, the godzilla, the inbox-killer had yet to re-emerge -- Srizbi, the botnet Sergeant characterizes as responsible for a full 50% of all spam. Alas, Tuesday night saw its return, Sergeant reports.
"In the last 24 hours Srizbi has managed to regain control of some of the botnet PCs which were inactive after the McColo shutdown," he told BetaNews on Wednesday afternoon. "This has yet to result in a significant increase in spam volumes, however given this progression we expect to see spam volumes back to 'normal' levels in around a week's time."
While we were relaxing, he says, it's likely that the botnet owners were scrambling to retain new providers, while the shady firms that rent such things were forced to languish and contemplate lost profits.
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|I believe that the one thing all OS's of choice have is that we're all forced to eat SPAM at some point in time. Spam blockers aren't infallable & let some get through, or just as bad in some cases, they block some legit mail.
If there is any one thing that we can all agree upon it is this....WE ALL HATE SPAM!
Cue the SPAM song please!
SPAM! SPAM! SPAM! SPAM!
(sorry, couldn't resist)
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|How appropriate! ;-)))))
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|The sad truth is that I am not buried in anonymous spam.
Rather I am buried in spam from sites associated with various publications, groups, and organizations providing so many IT related 'services'(yeah, right) claiming to add value to my day that I have had some correspondence with in the past - and where even selecting to opt out of correspondance has failed to abate.
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|Oh yes, the majority of "spam" is from websites that are simply promoting themselves. Although I do get the occasional "Nobody wants poor Britney so she had to resort to masturbating. Angelina and Brad are caught on camera having oral sex." (The actual subject line of an email in my spam folder).
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|@foxfyre 3rd world countries would likely face embargoes from the rest of the world which would make their situations worse. The kickback from spammers likely would be less than the damage done at large to the economy and standing in the world.
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|Spam is not a determing factor in international relations! If so, we would have severed ties with Russia, the Ukraine, China and half the other countries actively pirating and generating malware LONG AGO; not to mention ACTIVELY attempting to penetrate secure government and defense related sites!
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|Gee. Now I am really confused.
I thought they rid the world of all of the evil doings?
I know! They need to pass a(nother) law and show them we are really serious!
My only question is why in hell are these folks locating server farms and/or using services located in countries that will shut them down? Why not just go to a smaller 3rd world country who would welcome a small 'donation' (eg kickback) to operate to their heart's content. But then, I suspect that is their next move.
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|Responses were deleted by BetaNews for offensive content. Some non-offensive replies to those responses may also have been removed.
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|LOL. I'm sorry and why do I use a Mac again? ^_^
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|because you're insecure and need to feel superior?
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|LOL. Pretty bold statement saying Macs are immune to spam. Insecure, arrogant AND clueless.
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|^ this.
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|LOL...I have a Mac too, but I get just as much spam on OS X as Windows...so I'm trying to see your point. ^~^
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|Keir is 'teh winnah' with that response to a typical clueless fanboi
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|...and ironically, his insecurity results in him ultimately being more secure in reality.
...maybe others could learn something from that...but as reality closes in and we remember where we are, I doubt it...
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|Spam is Spam... If someone thinks that owning a MAC makes them an exception, has to be smoking something or was dropped as a baby..
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|Not entirely true...
While using a Mac has NOmpact upon the spam one might receive, but akes a BIG difference in the potential malware exposure that is so commonly a variant in spam!
The Mac's sandboxing capabilities makes exposure as simple as 'delete'. But so many of the clueless here who simply think the Macs malware resistance is simply a matter of fewer users simply confirm the fact that they are clueless.
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