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Thread: This calls for celebration

  1. #1
    Dyslexic agnostic insomniac Senior Member Goofball's Avatar
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    Default This calls for celebration

    This story made me happier than anything I have read in the news in a long, long time:

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27689714/

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    Host of spam groups cut off

    Junk e-mail drops after providers disconnect a California firm

    By Brian Krebs
    updated 9:12 p.m. PT, Wed., Nov. 12, 2008

    The volume of junk e-mail sent worldwide dropped drastically today after a Web hosting firm identified by the computer security community as a major host of organizations allegedy engaged in spam activity was taken offline, according to security firms that monitor spam distribution online.
    While its gleaming, state-of-the-art, 30-story office tower in downtown San Jose, Calif., hardly looks like the staging ground for what could be called a full-scale cyber crime offensive, security experts have found that a relatively small firm at that location is home to servers that serve as a gateway for a significant portion of the world's junk e-mail.
    The servers are operated by McColo Corp., which these experts say has emerged as a major U.S. hosting service for international firms and syndicates that are involved in everything from the remote management of millions of compromised computers to the sale of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and designer goods, fake security products and child pornography via email.
    But the company's web site was not accessible today, when two Internet providers cut off MoColo's connectivity to the Internet, security experts said. Immediately after McColo was unplugged, security companies charted a precipitous drop in spam volumes worldwide. E-mail security firm IronPort said spam levels fell by roughly 66 percent as of Tuesday evening.
    Spamcop.net, another spam watch dog, found a similar decline, from about 40 spam e-mails per second to around 10 per second. (See their graphic representation here.)
    Officials from McColo did not respond to multiple e-mails, phone calls and instant messages left at the contact points listed on the company's Web site. It's not clear what, if anything, U.S. law enforcement is doing about McColo's alleged involvement in the delivery of spam. An FBI spokesman declined to offer a comment for this story. The U.S. Secret Service could not be immediately reached for comment.
    Also unclear is the extent to which McColo could be held legally responsible for the activities of the clients for whom it provides hosting services. There is no evidence that McColo has been charged with any crime, and these activities may not violate the law.
    Mark Rasch, a former cyber crime prosecutor for the Justice Department and managing director of FTI Consulting in Washington, D.C.,. said Web hosting providers are generally not liable for illegal activity carried out on their networks, except in cases involving copyright violations and child pornography.
    In the case of child pornography, providers may be held criminally liable if they know about but do nothing to eliminate such content from their servers. For example, in 2001, BuffNET, a large regional service provider in Buffalo, N .Y., pleaded guilty to knowingly providing access to child pornography because the company failed to remove offending Web pages after being alerted to the material.


    Rasch said liability in such cases generally hinges on whether the hosting provider is aware of or reasonably should have been aware of the infringing content.
    "It's a little bit like a landlord who owns a building and sees people coming in and out of the apartment complex constantly at all hours and not suspecting their may be drug activity going on ," Rasch said. " There are certain things that raise red flags, such as the nature, volume, source and destination of the Internet traffic, that can and should raise red flags. And to have so many third parties looking at the volume and content from this Internet provider saying 'This is outrageous,' clearly the people doing the hosting should know that as well."
    Global Crossing, a Bermuda-based company with U.S. operations in New Jersey, which was one of the two companies providing Internet connectivity to McColo, declined to discuss the matter, except to say that Global Crossing communicates and cooperates fully with law enforcement, their peers, and security researchers to address malicious activity.
    CONTINUED : 'We shut them down'
    "What, have Canadians run out of guns to steal from other Canadians and now need to piss all over our glee?"

    - TSM

  2. #2
    Headless Senior Member Pannonian's Avatar
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    Default Re: This calls for celebration

    Tincow beat you to it.

  3. #3
    Spirit King Senior Member seireikhaan's Avatar
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    Default Re: This calls for celebration

    In other news, Goofballs have been found to be susceptible to Lemur's Disease, indicating the spread of newest and greatest pox to hit this planet.
    It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then, the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.

  4. #4
    Moderator Moderator Gregoshi's Avatar
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    Default Re: This calls for celebration

    In other news, Goofballs have been found to be susceptible to Lemur's Disease, indicating the spread of newest and greatest pox to hit this planet...

    This space intentionally left blank

  5. #5
    Dyslexic agnostic insomniac Senior Member Goofball's Avatar
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    Default Re: This calls for celebration

    I feel shame. Mods, please close...

    "What, have Canadians run out of guns to steal from other Canadians and now need to piss all over our glee?"

    - TSM

  6. #6
    TexMec Senior Member Louis VI the Fat's Avatar
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    Default Re : This calls for celebration

    TC posted it in the Hard- and software section, which I don't really read.


    One small firm in an unconspicuos office building is closed down, and a signifact decline in spam is recorded worldwide?

    Please tell me California has the death penalty!?
    Anything unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
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    I would be the voice of your conscience if you had one - Brenus
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  7. #7
    Arena Senior Member Crazed Rabbit's Avatar
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    Default Re: This calls for celebration

    Hmm. I don't know; they're pretty wimpy there.

    I hope they throw everyone who worked for that firm in jail for ten years at least.

    CR
    Ja Mata, Tosa.

    The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the King of England cannot enter – all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement! - William Pitt the Elder

  8. #8
    has a Senior Member HoreTore's Avatar
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    Default Re: This calls for celebration

    Quote Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit View Post
    Hmm. I don't know; they're pretty wimpy there.
    But I do hear LA has a high number of gangs.... And a lot of them are on jail, no? Let's toss 'em some fresh meat
    Still maintain that crying on the pitch should warrant a 3 match ban

  9. #9
    Lesbian Rebel Member Mikeus Caesar's Avatar
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    Default Re: This calls for celebration

    Shockingly enough, this does call for celebration because i'm one of the people affected by it.

    Everyday i would turn on my computer and have 6-7 spam mails in my inbox. Turn on today, and how many do i have? 1.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ranika
    I'm being assailed by a mental midget of ironically epic proportions. Quick as frozen molasses, this one. Sharp as a melted marble. It's disturbing. I've had conversations with a braying mule with more coherence.


  10. #10
    L'Etranger Senior Member Banquo's Ghost's Avatar
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    Default Re: This calls for celebration

    Quote Originally Posted by Goofball View Post
    I feel shame. Mods, please close...

    There's no shame in Lemur's Disease. It affects people from all walks of life. It is NOT a lifestyle choice, nor a curse from god.

    Just don't touch anything.

    "If there is a sin against life, it consists not so much in despairing as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this one."
    Albert Camus "Noces"

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