Report: Spam reduced following Pricewert shutdown

Cutwail's spam activities on Thursday as Pricewert got shut down.

(Credit: MessageLabs)

It's been almost a week since the Federal Trade Commission had the allegedly rogue Pricewert ISP shut down, and it seems like the Internet has indeed been a safer, or I should say slightly less dangerous, place.

The FTC charged that Pricewert's distribution of illegal, malicious, and harmful content and deployment of botnets that compromised thousands of computers caused substantial consumer injury and was an unfair practice, in violation of federal law.

According to Symantec, the Cutwail botnet--one of the most notorious botnets, accounting for up to 35 percent of all spam in May across the globe--experienced a major blow to its track record after the shutdown late Thursday of Internet service provider Pricewert.

Another botnet Pricewert is allegedly involved with is the Pushdo, which was also reportedly affected. Both Pushdo and Cutwail reportedly used 3FN, one of the names Pricewert did business under, as botnet control servers.

According to the data released Monday by TRACElabs, the overall spam volume index has been reduced by 15 percent since Thursday. However the day-by-day number has gradually increased.

This means a couple of things.

First, either the timing of these changes was a coincidence or Pricewert was indeed involved in this nasty business. It's important to note that the company has not yet been convicted of any wrongdoings. The first court hearing is scheduled for June 15.

Second, it's likely that the spammers will soon recover from this heavy blow as many similar companies are based outside of the U.S., where the anti-spam laws are not strictly enforced.

Nonetheless this for now looks like an apparent victory for the authorities and for all the Internet users. In terms of its long-term impact on spam, Symantec's MessageLabs Senior Anti-Spam Technologist Matt Sergeant told CNET News: "For now, we will see spam levels lower than usual, but we expected the swift comeback of Cutwail. The spammers learned that they can't put all their eggs in one basket and need to have backup command and control."

It's indeed wait and see, but so far I personally have received less spam in the last few days. How about you? Share your thoughts about this case and your recent spam experience, in the comment area below.

[nachurboy]

Is the ISP "rouge" or beige? I'm not exactly sure what color it is. 2nd website I've found that calls the website a reddish tinted ISP.

[SwissJay]

Just a slight case of dyslexia, swapping 2 letters ;)

[alegr]

It's turqoise

[Dalkorian]

It may have been, but now it's black.

[BAMAToNE]

"... I personally have experienced less spam emails..."

You experienced fewer spam emails, or less spam email, but not less spam emails.

[jture]

That's not the only grammatical slip in Dong's post. "Either this was coincident or ..." No, "coincidental or ..."
"ederal Trade Commission had the allegedly rogue Pricewert ISP shutdown" - no, "shut down."
"Wrong doings" is usually written as one word.
I could go on, but I won't.

[ngodong]

All fixed. Thank guys. I am glad you guys had some fun at my expense.

[kojacked]

What's with the editoral trolls of late? Don't people have anything better to do? Who the hell cares if the grammer is pristine or not.

[Been_there_Saw_it_before]

The people who dismiss grammer as a side issue are the ones who have trouble with the difference between a lightning bug and a lightning bolt. Which one do you want to be near?

[BAMAToNE]

I consider this copy editing, not trolling, since apparently this is not done internally.

[Hunnter2k3]

Still won't do anything in the long run.
These guys will get back on their feet quite easily.

If anything, what they done was the most stupid idea ever, if they never done any "spying" that is.
Now all they will do is move them deeper into the depths of the internets.

[Michichael]

I was wondering why my firewall went from 500 hits a day to 3 on the SMTP port...

[Eddie-c]

How long will it be before it returns to the ridiculously high level it is/was? After all, they shut that other isp down and within a couple of months the spam level went back up!

If machines are infected/compromised, ISPs should block the damn things and only allow them back on when fixed, or offer to have one of their techs fix it .... hey, there's an idea ... hire people, more jobs, educate people ... oh wait, that's like too much common sense.

[Michichael]

Right because they can make a profit fixing stupid people's systems. And do you know how hard it is to fix a system that has no internet access? Or from a household that has no net access? It sucks!

[JoeF2]

"And do you know how hard it is to fix a system that has no internet access?"

Reformat the hard drive. Doesn't require Internet access...
And then install anything but Windows. I can put a box with a fresh Linux install on the network without fear of getting infected in 2 minutes.
Oh, and charge it to Microsoft. After all, they are selling a defective product.
Seriously, never connect a Windows box directly to the Net. Put a router/firewall in front of it. And delete the IE icon, and install Firefox or Opera or Safari. That willl take care of a large part of the problem.

[malynj]

It would have been better to identify which of their hosts were the botnet controllers, and allowed a trusted group to do a managed shutdown of the botnet while known controllers were in custody. This has been done before, not sure why it wasn't done this time.

[likeAppnforPhys]

I know it's SO pedantic to help out with someone's grammar...

[xim1970]

I know it's a bit "nitpicky" to pick on this post, because he does provide great info, but really, how far is it from journalistic integrity to blogging integrity, where people don't, at least, spellcheck their work? If the 'net is going to replace newspapers, the least we should expect is that bloggers take on the role of newspaper journalists and check facts, check spelling, and check grammar. Just because you have the ability to type does NOT give you the ability to be a qualified journalist. Good information on this post, but not the best grammatically.

[marswat]

"Lightning bug or lightning bolt..." is vocabulary, not grammar, so if you want to go way off topic and criticise his grammar on a tech site, for hecks sake, at least get your criticism right. Talk about shoot yourself in the foot. And "good journalism" does not come from one's ability to type or use perfect grammar it comes from the ability to get the news and publish it, get a life people!

And back to topic, I have experienced a major drop in scam et., and was wondering why. Just thought I had been lucky, guess it will be back soon enough.

[[RR]Macavity]

What I want to know is, when will they deal with the IM spammers?

I swear, I get five or six spims a day advertising this sex-hookup site, and I'm kinda peeved about it - BECAUSE I'M NOT INTERESTED.

[darfjono]

just watch it come back twice as strong like the LAST time this happened.

sheesh.

[wolfson]

Defininitly a lot les spam in by email