Spam declines after hosting company shut-down
MessageLabs documented a drop in spam eight times less than normal in the 12 hours immediately following the takedown.
(Credit: MessageLabs)Internet hosting site McColo disappeared on Tuesday. Along with it went thousands of pieces of spam, thanks, in part, to investigative work by Washington Post reporter Brian Krebs.
For about four months, security experts have been collecting data about McColo Corp., a San Jose, Calif.-based Web hosting service that may have been used by by the cyber underground, according to the The Washington Post. Krebs said that the McColo hosting company had been responsible for up to 75 percent of all spam spent.
Security vendor MXLogic said it was seeing about a 50 percent decline in spam volume as a result on Wednesday.
Jose Nazario of Arbor Networks, a company that monitors botnet activity, speculated that McColo vanished at around 9 a.m. Eastern time on November 10. Botnets are frequently used to relay spam, and McColo may have hosted some of the command and control servers necessary to coordinate spam campaigns.
Adam O'Donnell, writing on theZDNet Zero Day blog, speculates that the spammers might regroup in Eastern Europe.
The Post credits Benny Ng, director of marketing for Hurricane Electric, an upstream provider for McColo, for pulling the plug on the company. Another provider, Global Crossing, declined to comment, telling Krebs the company "communicates and cooperates fully with law enforcement, their peers, and security researchers to address malicious activity."
Something similar happened in September when another hosting site, Intercage/Ativo, was shut down by its upstream providers.
As CNET's resident security expert, Robert Vamosi has been interviewed on the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, and other outlets to share his knowledge about the latest online threats and to offer advice on personal and corporate security. Listen to his podcast at securitybites.cnet.com or e-mail Robert with your questions and comments.
I still got about 7 spam messages today, so I guess whoever's been spamming me is using something other than McColo's hosting.
Here's to hoping they'll get caught/shut down soon.
Let's hope it stays this way.
You should be more careful where you share your email address.
But they're not the same style of spam as before...it's like someone else has started targeting me or something.
Spam is still around because it works. Some try to steal personal information, some try to sell you something, some try to install malware. All work. Until it stops working, it won't go away.
I'm richhhhh. :)
What's next, hanging jaywalkers?
Really, you need to look at this in perspective. It's an inconvenience, albeit an expensive inconvenience, but do you really think it rates execution? If we execute spammers, what do we do to murders?
which is why I asked. :)
I recognize that much of the SPAM content is somewhat "less than mainstream" language. But the Viagra ads run on TV networks.
Note: I define spam as unwanted commercial advertising no matter how delivered. I hate it, but understand it.
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by pactumweb
November 13, 2008 11:58 PM PST
- Charles, your analogy is thoroughly faulty. Broadcast TV costs money to produce; the reason there is no subscription fee is because the advertisers pay the broadcasters. Thus, ads support NBC, ABC etc. The same can be said for internet sites that have usable content, but support themselves via ads rather than by charging a subscription. THAT IS NOT SPAM.
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Reply to this comment
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(30 Comments)Spammers do not support the internet in any way, shape, or form. Rather the opposite. Regular advertisers are a boon, as they make television or other media affordable for the consumer, and that's in a very direct way. Spammer do not make internet usage affordable; rather, they suck up resources. Put another way: Unlike legit advertising, genuine spam is parasitical.
Point being: your definition of spam is faulty.