(one of the few substitute words I use--partly because it's not too common in the U.S.--I probably learned it reading murder mysteries from around the world--hope that use in other English-Speaking countries is not considered as highly offensive as the real thing)
It kind of looks like the reason we're getting spammy messages on the list is that the regular e-mail is becoming more protected (mine isn't!--and I think I'll disrecommend the Norton anti-spam--unless you want to block each incoming spam address--and my experience is that they are all different so who cares--either that or there's a huge explosion on our ISP).
http://news.com.com/The+fight+against+V1gra+and+other+spam/2100-7348_3-6074727.html?tag=newsmap
But spammers have hardly given up, and as they improve and adapt their techniques, network managers must still face down the pill-pushers, get-rich-quick artists and others who use billions of unwanted e-mail messages to troll for income. "For the end user, spam isn't that much of a problem anymore," said Matt Sergeant, MessageLabs' senior antispam technologist. "But for the network, and for people like us, it definitely is."
.........
During a recent meeting at the company's New York office, in Midtown Manhattan, Sergeant and a colleague, Nick Johnson, an antispam developer visiting from MessageLabs' headquarters in Gloucester, England, expressed both amusement and respect over the sheer creativity of the world's most prolific spammers, who continue to dump hundreds of millions of junk messages into the e-mail stream each day.
.............
But even if it works, the amount of spam [in the classic Nigeran mode] it would eliminate from the overall deluge would be negligible by almost any measure, and Sergeant and his team will still be forced into encounters with "C i a l i s" and "st0x" and "Viiiiagra." The researchers are certain that the last, with multiple I's shoved together, is the handiwork of Leo Kuvayev.
Kuvayev is No. 3 on the list of the world's most prolific and notorious spammers, maintained at Spamhaus.org, a London-based watchdog group. The listing is not undeserved.
In Massachusetts last October, a Suffolk Superior Court judge, D. Lloyd MacDonald, levied $37 million in penalties on Kuvayev and six other people after deciding against them--in absentia--in a lawsuit brought by the state's attorney general, Tom Reilly.
The suit contended that the defendants, who once worked out of Newton, Mass., and Boston, used "a complicated web of Internet sites and domain names selling a variety of illegal products," including counterfeit drugs, pirated software, pornography and phony designer watches.
Spam watchers say they believe Kuvayev is now in Russia--still very much in business and employing a team of spam writers to continue poking holes in the world's filters.
..........
Sergeant said that just two men--Kuvayev and Alex Blood, a Ukrainian who is rated the No. 1 junk mailer by Spamhaus--hammer the world's e-mail systems with five million messages an hour. "You're talking about being responsible for something like 10 percent of all e-mail on the Internet," Sergeant said, "from just two guys."
Don't hold your breath, but I think I got that last persistant one. Had to block about 1/2 of Korea but I think I got him.
I'm guessing the South half. Probably not many internet connections in the North.
I think so, Bart. I gotta whole lotta Seoul. :-/
Spam keeps coming in - even porn spam - seems to be around 4 to 6 per day.
Proxy servers seem to be used - many times IP address does not match e-mail address - many from .ru
This means that most of our blocking of guest postings is in vain as that server is usually random - maybe even a virused computer that doesn't even know what it is doing.
When the quantity becomes excessive we will block guest postings. Until then we will try to maintain. Sorry if some get by for too long. We can't monitor the site at all hours.
Yuck.
Mind you I get at least 10% spam through my regular ISP's mail system, pretty normal, according to that article. Hotmail has more, but it's usually confined in junk mail. Just at the moment I'm using Norton's spam filter for the ISP, which can only block known addresses. It seems like a truly dumb way to go, because they never seem to be from the same real address.
I have learned to ignore it--and never respond. It's still annoying.
On the other hand, more aggressive spam filters tend to weed out letters from friends--I have a bunch who send out stories that interest them to massive mailing lists.
Any feelings on the spam issue? :-/ Poll above.
I voted but IMO you should move your poll , or in some way add that , there is a poll here , to the subject line on the home page so folk's know your askin for input.
Makum register it's not that hard and then they'll be part of something and easier , sort of / maybe to block ::)
Good luck, PEG
I thought I'd do this and let it go a few days or week here -- this topic covers it pretty well. Not a big rush yet but I don't think most members want the forum trashed with porn offers either and there has been more of that lately.
It looks like stopping guest posting will stop most of the spam that we are currently getting.
I think the poll is a good idea Glenn.
You seem to be kicking more of this out than I am. I delete one a day or so. The problem will come when we aren't on top of it for a few days.
The poll is running in favor of making guests register before posting at this time.
I got 4 today already.
New problem --- In blocking spammers, I accidently blocked Jonesy too. Fortunately he was able to Skype my and get taken off the blocked list. The problem here is that he couldn't get back to the forum at all - If someone needed my e-mail to notify me they wouldn't likely have it.
I found some of Cecelia's IP number group was blocked too so removed guest posting ability and freed all banned IP numbers. Sorry to anyone else blocked because of the spammers.
Guests will have to register to post comments or spam now.
As a new member I think limiting posts to members only is a great idea. It takes just minutes to register and when you first find this website with its wealth of info you are usually reading for quite a while before you are ready to ask questions. There are bad apples everywhere....I say BLOCK 'EM!
deertracks
Thanks for the input, deertracks. It is done-- now lets see if it solves the problem. :)
Update -- the first spammer signed up as a member today.
I ran his name and email and banned him before his first posting --- I will regularly run checks on new members as I have time.
Double update --- make that 2 banned new members.
Both were drug and or porn dealers.
Wonderful.
Why do they do this?
(they get paid to do it, or not quite the same, it's profitable to the drugs/porn industry, it's fun to watch Glenn thrash about, or what the heck, bored children, or they can.)
What happened to the poll?
After I found out Jonesy was blocked I stopped the poll, blocked guest postings and released the blocked IP addresses. The poll was about 80% for blocking guest postings to help fight spammers.
Now it is harder for them to get in and it is easier for me to block the individual spammer without affecting thousands of IP addresses. Only the more industrious ones will register - I hope-
I can research their registration - ban and remove them - block their email from registering - block their username- - remove them and ban them if as a member they post a spam. Hopefully this will be more effective than trying to block a guest. Some of the blocking features didn't work on guests.
Another spammer member removed and emailed the option to prove he is not a spammer.
Graphic verification is now activated. This will add about 5 seconds to the sign in process but stop bot's from registering.
I was wondering if the graphic verification was an option for us.
(until some 14-year old figures out how to bypass it)
I learned about it studying up on it on the admin. help board. We have it easy most of the time -- one got about 200 in just a short time - seems she said an hour or so.
Note that some of these are very hard to verify so we may get an occasional spam posted.
I am currently removing and blocking an average of 2 spammer members per day, but have no guest spam postings and spammer members are easy to locate and remove even before they post.
A few may slip by but will only get one posting session before removed.
Where would we be without Glenn? :-/
Three cheers for the SpamMaster! :D
Hip, Hip, etc.
Quote
Three cheers for the SpamMaster! :D
[size=24] Yah spam master ;) [/size]
(http://www.spam.com/assets/hp/spam_cartoon.gif)
(http://www.spam.com/sp/SPAMALOT.gif%20)
(http://www.spam.com/assets/hp/GoodGone3_animation.gif%20)
Now I'm getting hungry. :-/
Thanks - guys ---
It does seem a little nicer when we aren't violated by the spammers everyday.
I really don't understand how they managed to log on as glenn to post. I guess they've decided this is war.
Eternal September... *sigh*
They have changed the name slightly so it's not really Glenn's login they have hijacked. Looks like the real one has turned up now so we are all saved. "GO GET HIM SPAM MASTER" ;D
*hands clasped at chest level* Save us, Anti-Spam Man!
;)
Hi Ailsa and Jonesy,
It's true -- it wasn't really me ---- there are so many ways he can change my name -- add spaces -etc that it is not possible to stop him and leave the forum relatively free so I had to block a major portion of Hawaii.
I would have picked a better picture. :)
Yeh we know, it would have been a picture of a Bobcat or something with tracks. ;D
OK-- I'm going to have to head to work shortly --- You guys and gals are out of Porn until he can find another way to get through.
Hope it takes him a bit.
Thanks for hanging in there with me. No pun intended---as Chuck would say. :)
Ohmygosh, Glenn we won"t know what to do!
Not quite the kind of hacking/spam we get here, but there is an Onion article, titled
"Two Hundred Spam e-mails Can't Be Wrong!
Unfortunately he might be right.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/49434
When I received my first "spam" e-mail offer, I admit I was a bit skeptical. I hadn't asked for any information on refinancing my mortgage, and the rates in the e-mail seemed too good to be true. Why hadn't I heard about this great deal on TV or in the Yellow Pages?
I kept receiving these e-mails for the next few months and, over time, I started to open my mind to the idea. It occurred to me that the odds of all these unrelated people being completely full of baloney were getting smaller and smaller....
I wonder if there's software available out there somewhere that would make the spammer's computer explode in a stinking fireball right before his beady little eyes? I'd kick in a few bucks..............
There are things that can be done but I'd probably be the one who got caught, unlike him who seems to have an ISP who doesn't care.
Things seem better for now anyway - haven't had to throw anybody out in a few days.
Come on Glenn
Let the porn back in... That way buildings will not be the only things that get erected.... ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::)
Like the buildings, If I let the porn back in, their would be no reason to put them up --- just a worthless excuse for building. :-/
Sorry Peter --- you'll just have to find it elsewhere. :( :)
Nah..I can do without the porn
One of my favorite car forums...A spammer decided it was okay to spam the site...
A few active members pinged him got his IP had him shut down
All this did was piss the guy off...He started using remote proxies...and then posting nasty stuff... people eating fecis.... and worse if you can believe it
Then the spammer started searching for info about some of the posters..And started sending huge files to people's mail boxes shutting them down... sending porn to their mailboxes....Calling them at work....
all because no matter how hard he tried to spam the car site they kept shutting him down...
For the life of me I cannot understand why someone would go through all the trouble...I mean there are places for solicited e-mails links ads and photos...
if you post somewhere and get banned you should have a pretty good idea you posted the spam in the wrong place and move along
If I remember correctly the worlds worst spammer just got jail time and a huge fine... You would think that might detur others...obviously not
I guess some of them take it personally then get fixated on making a big deal out of it. Seems they would want to go spam sites where they may make a few bucks rather than one who shuts them down--- mental problems I guess.
maybe people feel it is their right to flaunt other people's privacy.. to break the rules without fear of penalty or persecution....
And when someone like you remove their membership or IP address they feel violated?
Just a theory...The other is they are absolutely outraged because this was their big plan to make it rich...And you are killing the dream Glenn....Rather than use their brain and come up with another dream/plan....They just keep running full speed headfirst into the wall hoping to find a door.
You know there are still people that believe the earth is indeed flat
You mean it isn't? :-/
I guess part of it is money for clicks and another part of it is web crawler search engines finding them in more places putting them higher on the list.
friend of mine just had a personal email attack
Something like 1100 messages sent out under his name. His ISP said they were going to have to report it to the FBI.
I'm afraid it's starting to get serious.
I am sure the FBI agent that tries to sort the mess out is good....But these spammers are good too...
Growing up in Canada I was a Huge Expos fan...And we had a online forum for fans....
We fell victim to spammers and then people that would hack the site and get personal information.... Post photos of the members on the internet...Call the members at work once they had tracked them down.... Death threats...
Of course the police were called but the a holes responsible were using proxies on public access computers... Making harassment calls from prepaid phones or payphones with those discount calling cards you buy at gas stations.
Very, Very tough to pinpoint a clown like this.
I am so totally inept when it comes to understanding how a search engine works...Or anything electronic...Ip traces...pings... it is all beyond me
But on our baseball site the jerks were somehow using fake IP numbers...and they even managed to somehow get the IP numbers for the regular users and mask their IP with the regular IP numbers.
Like I said... It seems a game for these people....And they are quite good.
I would love to see the FBI nail each and every one of those people that feel they can just spam without repercussions...
Some kid would suddenly lose the feeling of humor in this type of thing if he had 10 years to think about it in a 8 x 10 cell
Aye, there's the rub. Some of this stuff is just jerky kids being, well, jerky kids. They do need to be found, and get a wrist slapped, and most of them will stop. There are some real dedicated finks though, who are real hard to find, and they are scary.
If it's the same guy I'm thinking of that benevolance mentioned,
"If I remember correctly the worlds worst spammer just got jail time and a huge fine... You would think that might detur others...obviously not "
the sad thing is that he was fairly easily caught because he wasn't being malicious, just stupid. He was promoting bonafide business, if I recall correctly, (wasn't his sister involved, too?) Anyway, he WAS breaking the law, but almost as though he figured, "They won't come afer me, because I'm not doing the bad stuff". Wrong, boyo! Because he WASN'T a malicious hacker who knew how to cover his tracks, he was an easy catch, and was made an example of to try and deter the real badboys. It's kinda like sending the street level drug dealer up for life, while the Medellin's continue to operate with impunity.
who is medellin
Sorry I am totally lost once we start talking drugs...I know nothing about illegal narcotics
Medellin is a city in Columbia. It is variously known as the world's "murder capital," "cocaine capital," and "kidnap capital." It is also the home of Pablo Escobar; the world's most famous alleged drug trafficker.
I suspect Billy Bob's use of the term "the Medellin's" is a reference to the drug lords. But, not necessarily from there.