[Namron] Save a bundle on Windows XP!

mikea mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tue May 18 06:05:48 PDT 2004


On Tue, May 18, 2004 at 07:18:04AM -0500, marc adkins wrote:
> Would someone PLEASE do something about this NOW!!!  

There's very nearly nothing to be done unless the folks running the 
listserver are willing to use measures that are even more draconian 
than those they already use. I run mail-filters for a living, and 
can testify that the spammers are getting nastier and more clever as
time goes on. 

For at least the last 6 months the big spammers have been contracting
with malware (worm, virus) authors to write programs that not only 
infect other machines and spread themselves, bot also report to a 
"mother ship" once they've been infected. The infection includes code
to turn each infected machine into a remote-controlled zombie spam-
spewer. 

It's really, really ugly, and my day job is about to spend $10,000 on
new hardware to help me fight it more efficiently -- as well as my 
salary and benefits. 

Advice to those of you who run Windows: 
o	Put a firewall between your computer and your cablemodem. 
o	Don't depend on the Windows "firewall" code to protect you; 
	it's not a "wall" at all, but a sieve. 
o	Keep your antivirus software up to date, and update it _DAILY_. 
o	Don't ever open any attachment unless you know the person who sent 
	it _AND_ that person told you in advance to expect the attachment. 

In general, folks, practice safe hex. It's really nasty out there, and
your machine can get infected and start spewing spam without you ever 
knowing it. TO give you some idea of what it's like, here's what my 
mail filter at work saw coming in over the 8 days from May 9 through 
May 16: 

         Mails   spamassassin   rejected      scanner       total mails   
         Total   says 'spam'    by ruleset    says virus    undelivered
 May  16  4256  2374 (55.78%) 1303 (30.62%)  291 ( 6.84%)  3968 (93.23%)
 May  15  4521  2512 (55.56%) 1386 (30.66%)  251 ( 5.55%)  4149 (91.77%)
 May  14  8739  3703 (42.37%) 1839 (21.04%)  377 ( 4.31%)  5919 (67.73%)
 May  13  9052  3651 (40.33%) 1819 (20.10%)  539 ( 5.95%)  6009 (66.38%)
 May  12  8190  3204 (39.12%) 1758 (21.47%)  493 ( 6.02%)  5455 (66.61%)
 May  11  7799  2829 (36.27%) 1820 (23.34%)  505 ( 6.48%)  5154 (66.09%)
 May  10  7722  2788 (36.10%) 1652 (21.39%)  540 ( 6.99%)  4980 (64.49%)
 May   9  3871  1965 (50.76%) 1202 (31.05%)  249 ( 6.43%)  3416 (88.25%)

-- 
Mike Andrews	/	Michael Fenwick 	Barony of Namron, Ansteorra
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old music Laurel and disgusted spam-fighter



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