[Politech] Spammers capitalize on Janet Jackson breast, um, flap? [sp]

From: Declan McCullagh (declan@private)
Date: Sun Feb 08 2004 - 21:54:54 PST

  • Next message: Declan McCullagh: "[Politech] GWU report talks about "political influentials" and Internet"

    ---
    
    Reply-To: <etzinberg@private>
    From: "Emily Tzinberg" <etzinberg@private>
    Subject: Spammers Seize Janet Jackson for Latest E-mail Appeals
    Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 10:04:27 -0500
    
    SurfControl, the world's number one Web and e-mail filtering company, today
    noted a predictable upswing in the amount of spam capitalizing on the recent
    Janet Jackson scandal.  The company warns IT managers to adjust their spam
    filters to block these new spam messages, which redirect recipients to
    adult-oriented Web sites.
    
    For information about this and other recent changes in spam content, please
    contact me.
    
    Tom Murphy
    Ignition Strategic Communications
    (202) 339-0111, ext. 103
    tmurphy@private
    ________________________________________
    
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    
    CONTACTS:
    Christina Frey, SurfControl
    831.440.2629  christina.frey@private
    
    Pam Small, Ignition Strategic Communications
    202.339.0111 psmall@private
    
    
    SPAMMERS SEIZE JANET JACKSON FOR LATEST E-MAIL COME-ON
    
    SurfControl Researchers Note Flurry of Spam E-Mails Using Janet Jackson's
    Name to Lure Recipients to Pornographic Websites
    
    
    SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif., (February 6, 2004) - The Global Content Team at
    SurfControl (LondonSRF), the world's number one Web and e-mail filtering
    company, today noted a predictable upswing in the amount of spam making hay
    from the Janet Jackson scandal.
    
    Researchers have noted throughout the week an increase in spam carrying the
    subject lines designed to capitalize on the scandal that involved pop star
    Justin Timberlake tearing the front of Jackson's costume. The most popular
    subject lines include: "Latest Janet Jackson nude pictures," "Exposed Janet
    Jackson hardcore pictures and videos," "Checkout Janet J, she's so hot
    here," "Janet J pic and vids of her available now," and the more creative,
    "Janet J nipple slipple."
    
    All the spam identified to date pointed recipients to a Web site with
    pictures of nude celebrities selling pictures and videos of the Jackson
    incident during the Super Bowl half-time show last Sunday.
    "Most of this spam seems to be coming from a single spammer at the moment,
    but our experience suggests that there's much more to come," said Susan
    Larson, SurfControl's vice president of Global Content. "But since the
    pictures are so easy to obtain, Janet Jackson may not have the staying power
    among spammers of Paris Hilton. You can be sure we'll keep abreast of the
    trend."
    
    On a more serious note, SurfControl reminded IT administrators that e-mail
    filtering can substantially reduce the risk to employees using e-mail at
    work by stopping spam messages before they enter the corporate network.
    Companies using SurfControl E-mail Filter can immediately block spam using
    the company's unique Anti-Spam Agent database of more than 100,000 digital
    spam "fingerprints."  They also can rely on SurfControl's own multi-layer
    technology that uses lexical analysis based on advanced Boolean logic, to
    build or update accurate spam-identifying rules and dictionaries.
    SurfControl's E-mail Filter also allows companies to add, edit or delete
    words, phrases and alphanumeric patterns to construct rules that identify
    spam that may be particular to the individual company or industry.   The
    technology stops spam messages from ever reaching the end user and should be
    backed up with some basic e-mail user education.
    
    About SurfControl
    
    SurfControl plc, the world's number one Web and e-mail filtering company,
    delivers on its promise to help companies 'Stop Unwanted Content' in the
    workplace by continuous innovation, invention and expansion of its filtering
    products to address new content risks as they emerge.  The company is the
    leader in the Content Security market, which analysts expect to reach nearly
    $2 billion by 2007.
    
    SurfControl is the only company in the security market offering a total
    content security solution that combines Web, E-mail (including Anti-Spam and
    Anti-Virus) and Instant Message Filters with the industry's largest, most
    accurate and relevant content database and adaptive reasoning tools to
    automate content recognition.
    
    SurfControl's world-class partners include Sun Microsystems, Check Point,
    Cisco, IBM, Research In Motion and Nokia. The company has more than 20,000
    customers worldwide, including many of the world's largest corporations, and
    employs nearly 450 people in nine separate locations across the United
    States, Europe and Asia/Pacific.
    
    For further information and news on SurfControl, please visit
    http://www.surfcontrol.com/.
    
    ###
    _______________________________________________
    Politech mailing list
    Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
    Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sun Feb 08 2004 - 22:41:59 PST