[ISN] Anti-Virus Companies, Tenacious Spammers

From: William Knowles (wk@private)
Date: Thu Jan 29 2004 - 02:29:17 PST

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    Forwarded from: security curmudgeon <jericho@private>
    
    http://www.attrition.org/security/rant/av-spammers.html
    
    Anti-Virus Companies: Tenacious Spammers
    Wed Jan 28 04:46:28 EST 2004
    Brian Martin [jericho@private]
    
    No one can argue that the spam problem is getting better. Despite
    advances in anti-spam technology and legislation against spam,
    unwanted junk mail is flowing into our inboxes at an increased rate.
    Stock tips, enhancement drugs, Nigerian scams, DVD copy software and
    hundreds of other products or services get shoved in our face.
    
    For roughly three years, the Internet has seen worms that spread via
    e-mail, often taking addresses out of the infected machine's web
    cache, user addressbook or other sources. Some of these worms will
    also forge/spoof the "From:" line so the mail appears to be from
    someone else, in an attempt to make the mail more 'trusted'. To be
    clear..
    
    [..]
    
    Spam is basically defined as "unsolicited junk e-mail". Unsolicited,
    as in you did not request the person/company to send you mail. Junk,
    as in it contains no valuable content or information. When an
    anti-virus program from a remote system mails you out of the blue,
    tells you that it blocked a virus YOU sent, tells you that you are
    likely infected with a virus and advertises itself, the remote site is
    sending you spam. In the case of the latest worm, myself and others
    have received more spam from Anti-Virus products than the worm itself!
    As you read this, Anti-Virus companies are responsible for products
    that are sending out more unwanted mail than the worm itself. The most
    damning mail from these products not only purport to "warn you of
    infection", but they go so far as to advertise the product to you.
    This is unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE, aka "spam") in its purest
    form.
    
    [..]
    
    
    
    
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