Spam reaches record levels

British Computer Society ^ | 1/11/07 | STAFF

[magslinger]

[Redcloak]

I'm wondering to what degree ISPs can reduce spamming by blocking port 25 by default. Some do, but not all.

[TruthWillWin]

IT security company SoftScan reported a mysterious 30 per cent drop in spam levels last week, with possible reasons including the temporary failure of a botnet and a recent earthquake in the Asia region disrupting spammers' access to the internet.

That explains it. I normally have about 50-75 per day on my spam blocker, almost all in a language I can't read (Asian). The last few days I've had less than 10.

[preacher]

A 1 cent charge per email for everyone would slow spamers way down.

[PhatHead]

Hey, wait a minute! Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act in 2003! There's no spam any more, is there?

/sarcasm

[buffyt]

I get so many emails trying to sell me Viagra type products and I am a WOMAN!

[MediaMole]

A 1 cent charge per email for everyone would slow spamers way down.

Not in the least. They use malware to hijack computers and send spam. Clueless computer users would be hit with huge bills. ...and the spammers would just laugh some more.

[AntiKev]

A 1 cent charge per email for everyone would slow spamers way down.

First, this is impossible to do. If ISPs start doing this, they will rapidly lose customers. I can set up a mail server at home on my existing always-on computer for free. Guess what! That circumvents your 1 cent charge.

Second, they wouldn't send spam if it didn't work. Somewhere there are idiots falling for these scams.

[UB355]

Roadrunner is excellent as far as stopping spam. Outlook shows only 1 or two junk e-mails a month. SBC/Yahoo used to let 10+ a day through

[dhuffman@awod.com]

From Preacher Paul or Preacher Peter?

Either we are equal or we are not. Good people ought to be armed where they will, with wits and guns and the truth. NRA KMA

[x1stcav]

Interesting.

If you'd ask me, I'd say that between filters, etc my spam is down dramatically from a year or two ago.

[backtothestreets]

I've been watching spam increase heavily lately. Oddly, I've seen such growth in spam at other times, but on the present level it is only comparable to spring and summer 2001. Spam email at that time came with many attachments. It was only after 9-11 that we learned pictures spread through email had messages unseen except to those that knew to look into the source code of the picture. The current batch of spam is increasingly with attachments. I've this crazy notion spam is increased in an effort to hide terrorist emails. Time will tell.

[engrpat]

SBC/Yahoo used to let 10+ a day through

I have had SBC/Yahoo for over a year and have been more than impressed with its spam blocker. It is very rare that one will hit my inbox.

[Ramius]

I use Postini (quoted in the article) for our corporate spam fiter. They're right about the recent surge. My org has about 800 users and we've seen peak traffic of 60,000 msgs/hour at the filter. No, I'm not kidding.

Only a tiny fraction of that makes it through. But there has absolutely been a huge surge in spam traffic in the last year.

[qam1]

Hey, wait a minute! Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act in 2003! There's no spam any more, is there?

Unfortunately it did not include a death penalty provision

[tbone56]

I've had about a dozen spams in 3 years. I hate the lefty home page but, I'll admit, AOL is my server. It came with the 'puter.
Flame away :>)

[Ramius]

I use Postini (quoted in the article) for our corporate spam fiter. They're right about the recent surge. My org has about 800 users and we've seen peak traffic of 60,000 msgs/hour at the filter. No, I'm not kidding.

Only a tiny fraction of that makes it through. But there has absolutely been a huge surge in spam traffic in the last year.

[Abcdefg]

An ISP could stop any subscribers from sending any out. Match IP address against legit subscriber e-mail accounts on that assigned IP, and kill any accounts where they don't match up.

That would stop forged headers. Then publicly eviscerate any spammers.

[Revolting cat!]

Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act in 2003!

Oh, yes. Some of us even remember the Presidential address on the subject at the time. Yes, siree "Mission accomplished!"

Talk about responsibility in government.