Covering the global threat landscape
News articles tagged with 'spam'
see also the glossary entry for 'Spam'
Microsoft 'found to make requests' to URLs shared via Skype
HEAD requests likely used to determine landing page. (0 comments)
14 May 2013
Cybercriminals quick to exploit emerging news
Malicious emails appear a matter of hours after news of explosions in the US. (0 comments)
18 April 2013
Different focus on spam needed
What happens before the filter doesn't matter too much. (0 comments)
16 April 2013
Catch rates drop in latest VBSpam tests
Spam more of a challenge for majority of products. (0 comments)
27 March 2013
Spam link sends Android users to trojan proxy
Meanwhile, desktop users sent to (relatively harmless) weight-loss site. (0 comments)
18 March 2013
VB data supports Google's claim to having reduced compromised accounts
Internet giant may indeed do something right; Yahoo! has a real problem. (0 comments)
21 February 2013
Massive drop in PPI SMS spam after spammers fined
Levels still higher than for most of 2012. (0 comments)
12 February 2013
Impressive results in latest VBSpam test
Excellent performances in spam filter test - plus evidence of a correlation between spam 'passing' SPF and an increased delivery rate. (0 comments)
04 February 2013
Latest spam filter test shows spam catch rates have bounced back
Spam catch rates improve, but performance on phishing lags behind that on other spam. (0 comments)
21 November 2012
One in ten spam messages contains drive-by download link
80-fold increase in one month. (0 comments)
24 October 2012
Air Force Major Abacha Tunde needs your help
419 scam asks you to help release funds to get Nigerian astronaut back to earth. (0 comments)
14 September 2012
Latest VBSpam test results show drop in spam catch rates again
Downward trend in performance continues.
31 July 2012
Grum botnet's command-and-control servers shut down
Spam-sending botnet believed to be third largest in the world.
19 July 2012
Cybercriminals offering service flooding email, phone and SMS
DDoS-type attack could seriously disrupt business. (0 comments)
19 July 2012
Significant rise in malicious spam and phishing
Over one quarter of malicious emails contain eight-year-old malware.
11 April 2012
Spam catch rates drop in latest VBSpam test
Catch rates significantly lower than in previous months.
19 March 2012
'Unsubscribe' URL in junk fax leads to malware
Trojan downloader behind .co.cc URL.
24 February 2012
200-fold increase in HTML-attachment spam
Cutwail botnet likely behind campaign that sends users to Phoenix exploit kit. (0 comments)
16 February 2012
'Hotmail and Gmail have best spam filter' says Cascade spam test
Comparative test did not take false positives into account.
15 February 2012
Vulnerability turns McAfee's anti-malware solution into open relay
Flaw allows for spam to be sent through customers' PCs.
19 January 2012
Spammers link to site containing QR code
Curious users may scan URL and end up on pharma websites. (0 comments)
10 January 2012
Spammers using Google open redirect
Vulnerability 'not worthy of bug bounty program'. (0 comments)
15 December 2011
IETF expedites publication of RFC describing feedback loop recommendations
Document fast-tracked to be published shortly before the sad passing of its author J.D. Falk. (0 comments)
17 November 2011
South Korea to ask ISPs to block port 25 traffic
Experts sceptical about long-term effects on spam levels. (0 comments)
15 November 2011
'Meta-phish' uses attached form to evade web filters
Landing page contains clear warning. (0 comments)
21 October 2011
Dutch ISP sues Spamhaus for 'extortion'
Blacklist entries 'unfair and illegal'. (0 comments)
13 October 2011
E-marketing companies compromised to send spam
Fake order confirmations contain malicious links. (0 comments)
27 September 2011
New RFC grants DKIM improved status
Email signing method now 'Draft Standard'. (0 comments)
23 September 2011
Malicious spam campaigns leave experts puzzled
Increase in malware in spam has not led to increase in malicious activity. (0 comments)
21 September 2011
Confirmed newsletter subscriptions half as likely to be blocked
Good practice means good performance. (0 comments)
19 September 2011
Explosive growth of malicious spam
Spam filters less likely to block current malware campaigns. (0 comments)
17 August 2011
Spam sent via fake out-of-office messages
'Sick leave' message followed by weight loss spam.
11 August 2011
Rogue Twitter application steals passwords
'See who stalks my Twitter' used to lure users.
19 July 2011
Hotmail beefs up security with stricter password policy
'My friend has been spammed' button also welcomed by experts.
18 July 2011
Google delists all .co.cc domains from its index
Large fraction of sites deemed 'spammy or low-quality'. (0 comments)
04 July 2011
Spammers using social network templates
Templates from social networking sites used to make messages appear legitimate. (0 comments)
30 June 2011
Outlook spam phishes for SMTP credentials
Login details would give spammers access to legitimate mail servers. (0 comments)
20 June 2011
95% of spam monetized through three banks
Financial infrastructure possible bottleneck for spammers. (0 comments)
25 May 2011
Spammers use unicode trick to manipulate file names
Windows executable appears to be Word document.
16 May 2011
Adobe releases emergency update for Flash Player
Zero-day exploit actively being abused. (0 comments)
14 April 2011
Major email service provider suffers data breach
Financial institutions among affected customers. (0 comments)
05 April 2011
Cutwail botnet sent 1.7 trillion spam messages
Operators made several million through botnet.
18 March 2011
Spam levels take a nose dive as Rustock apparently taken down - update
Eerie silence from Rustock botnet. Microsoft reported to have co-ordinated take down.
17 March 2011
Spammers exploit internationalized domain names
Non-Latin characters in URLs used to trick filters.
03 March 2011
Mrs Mubarak's IP addresses used by spammers
Spammers finding new ways to obtain non-blacklisted addresses.
01 February 2011
New peer-to-peer botnet discovered
New botnet shares fast flux DNS and other similarities with Storm and Waledac. (0 comments)
04 January 2011
More than 1 million Chinese phones infected with malware
Mobile botnet sending out SMS spam. (0 comments)
11 November 2010
Microsoft's machines hijacked by spammers
Servers also used for DoS attack on security journalist's site.
14 October 2010
ARF published as IETF standard
Abuse report format helps auto-handling of email complaints (0 comments)
02 September 2010
41% of spam sent via Rustock botnet
Botnet spam back after short summer break. (0 comments)
26 August 2010
Microsoft sues alleged spammer for gaming Hotmail's spam filter
Messages marked as 'not spam' from phony web mail accounts. (0 comments)
18 June 2010
Contract spam serving malware
Recipients made to believe they have been sent emails accidentally. (0 comments)
05 May 2010
Spammers move from China to Russia
Stricter rules on registering .cn domains leads to increase in malicious .ru domains. (0 comments)
24 February 2009
EU report suggests 95% of email is spam
Less than five per cent of all SMTP connections result in an email being delivered into a user's inbox. (0 comments)
26 January 2009
Project Honey Pot 'celebrates' billionth spam message
Facebook about to become most phished organization.
15 December 2009
Botnets becoming more robust
Zeus botnet used Amazon's in-the-cloud service to control bots.
15 December 2009
Legal success against notorious spammers
Atkinson to pay huge fine; Ralsky to spend years in prison.
01 December 2009
VB calls for collaboration amongst anti-spam vendors
VB finds that, when it comes to spam filtering, a combined effort outperforms individual products. (0 comments)
30 November 2009
Webmail data leak hype deflated
Rumoured phishing explosion grabs headlines, reality much more mundane. (0 comments)
09 October 2009
Take-down of rogue ISP sees temporary drop in spam levels
Spam levels back to normal within a few days.
28 August 2009
Unspam files lawsuit against unnamed cybercrooks
Anti-spam firm hopes to force banks to share more information on attacks. (0 comments)
25 August 2009
Yahoo! re-opens e-postage discussion
'CentMail' to benefit charities, harm spammers. (0 comments)
21 August 2009
Anti-Obama sentiments used in spam campaign
'DDoS software' turns out to be malware.
21 August 2009
McColo shutdown not felt the same by all recipients
Mailbox-level reduction may depend on spam detection methods.
21 July 2009
Five botnets responsible for 75% of spam sent
Each infected machine sends spam at rate of almost two messages per second. (0 comments)
16 July 2009
URL shorteners experience surge of popularity among spammers
More than 2.2% of spam contains shortened URLs.
09 July 2009
VB announces latest VBSpam certification results
Two products achieve top level VBSpam Platinum award. (0 comments)
01 July 2009
DKIM usage shows significant growth
US banks urged to use authentication method
29 June 2009
BBC botnet hijack proves controversial
Legal issues raised by broadcaster's demo of spamming, DDoS, cleanup attempt. (0 comments)
12 March 2009
Symantec slip sparks suspicion, spam
Update error leads to conspiracy theories and exploitation of fears.
12 March 2009
Valentine's lures lead to infection
Predicted spate of romance hooks under way. (0 comments)
10 February 2009
Virus Bulletin announces new anti-spam certification scheme
Independent security testing body to certify anti-spam products.
08 January 2009
Twitter hit by phishing and hacks
Popular micro-blog site latest target of link spammers.
06 January 2009
CastleCops closes down
Security community project comes to an end.
06 January 2009
Disconnection of dubious provider sees spam levels plummet
Web-hosting firm believed to be responsible for 75% of spam.
13 November 2008
Riders on a Storm
Researchers hijack botnet - and find spam success rates lower than previously believed. (0 comments)
11 November 2008
Free speech argument overturns AOL spammer conviction
Virginia court upholds notorious Jaynes' right to express himself in bulk.
16 September 2008
Storm mails bring spoof World War 3 news
US-Iran war story used as hook for malware barrage. (0 comments)
10 July 2008
MAAWG unveils spam and botnet battling policies
Working group of ISPs and net operators issue traffic calming guidelines. (0 comments)
30 June 2008
Spammers turn to DoubleClick for open redirect
Loophole in Google's AdSense solved, but new flaw quickly uncovered.
03 June 2008
Spam and ID theft attacked from all sides
EU body issues warning, ICANN, Japan and Yahoo! take on spammers and phishers. (0 comments)
03 June 2008
MySpace wins record payout in case against spammers
'Spam Kings' Wallace and Rines fined maximum amount under federal law.
14 May 2008
Cracked CAPTCHAs used to create malicious blogs
Blogs on Google's blogging system redirect to spam sites.
25 April 2008
More than 50% of users regularly double-check for false positive spam filtering
Only 12% of users trust their spam filter sufficiently not to bother sifting through spam folder.
16 April 2008
Average spam message size at record low
No decrease of bandwidth usage as number of spam messages keeps increasing.
3 April 2008
April Storm
April Fools' Day emails contain new variant of infamous worm.
1 April 2008
Hoax email warns about 'nasty virus'
Phony advice causes removal of site from search engines.
17 March 2008
Spammer's free speech defence fails
Appeal against conviction turned down.
07 March 2008
Gmail CAPTCHA cracked
Twenty per cent success rate sufficient to create thousands of spam accounts.
26 February 2008
Malware going local
Report sees trend toward greater localisation of threats.
22 February 2008
Japanese super-spammer arrested
Tokyo man sent 2.2 billion emails.
19 February 2008
Storm Valentines run under way
Seasonal spam and malware barrage gets going.
12 February 2008
Live Mail CAPTCHA system bypassed
Spammers use botnet to register accounts on popular free webmail service.
11 February 2008
Complex attack targets Better Business Bureau
Sophisticated scam uses personalised mails, real site redirects.
07 February 2008
FTC fines spammers over $2.5 million
Drug pushers busted for phony claims and CAN-SPAM breaches.
06 February 2008
419 scammers plead guilty in US
African trio admit attempts to defraud via spam.
04 February 2008
US agencies report vishing, extortion, danger of hacking
FBI name used in email attacks, CIA warns of power supply hacks.
21 January 2008
Stormy love letters
Storm botnet celebrates birthday with new wave of spam.
16 January 2008
Spam printing proof-of-concept revealed
Lack of security allows websites to send spammish content to network printers.
14 January 2008
Inconvenient content
Hackers include spammish content into Al Gore's website.
28 November 2007
Phished Salesforce.com data used for phishing attacks
Password leak leads to major CRM customer data haul.
09 November 2007
LinkedIn providing open redirect
Lax website setup could be used to trick the unwary.
08 November 2007
Symantec warns of rigged Google search links
Advanced search options lead clickers straight to junk sites.
06 November 2007
Storm spams promise spooky Halloween
Tricks not treats as skeleton game emails link to attack.
31 October 2007
Pump-and-dumpers move on to MP3 spam
Audio files latest stock pushing tactic.
18 October 2007
Bulletproof hosting firm claims legitimacy
Crime-laden Russian service threatens to sue detractors.
17 October 2007
Storm botnet evolution hints at spam and DDoS renting
Latest change in tactics could mean zombie clusters for hire.
17 October 2007
Five to six years for $1 million porn spammers
Strong sentences for CAN-SPAM breaches, money laundering.
15 October 2007
Online fraud fighters' reputation targeted by crooks
Joe Job attack aims to blacken good name of UK crimefighter Bobbear.
15 October 2007
Spam sneaked out via YouTube systems
Entertainment site service used to send junk mails.
09 October 2007
Storm DDoS hits anti-scam sites
419 fighters attacked - NFL and TOR latest spam hooks.
10 September 2007
Spamhaus $11 million fine thrown out
Appeal court quashes earlier e360 compensation ruling.
07 September 2007
YouTube latest Storm hook
Fake video links aim to pull in yet more victims.
28 August 2007
Monster haul of data reaped from job site
Trojan gathers 1.6 million sets of jobseeker records.
22 August 2007
Phish poses as Sophos malware alert
Fake security alarm lures users to spoofed site.
20 August 2007
Storm e-card malware keeps on coming
No end to flood of fake friendly greetings.
17 August 2007
57% of spam scam sites hosted in US
Study investigates sites and servers linked to from spam.
09 August 2007
Pharmacy spammer gets 30 years
'Rizler' convicted on drugs, conspiracy and money laundering charges.
09 August 2007
Major pump-and-dump campaign floods inboxes
Heavy stock scam barrage ups spam levels 30%.
08 August 2007
Spammers sentenced
Sentences for first US spammer to be convicted under CAN-SPAM and Australian mobile phone marketers.
01 August 2007
Spreadsheets latest spam message carriers
XLS files follow PDFs as junk email ad vector.
25 July 2007
Study promotes challenge-response for anti-spam
Interactive system rated best blocker in questioned survey.
19 July 2007
Japan to tighten spam laws
Proposals to further restrict email and phone spamming.
16 July 2007
26 phishing arrests in Italy
Police swoop on Poste Italiane spam scam gangs.
16 July 2007
SEC brings case against pump-and-dump spammers
Scam spotted after spammed mail sent to SEC lawyer.
11 July 2007
Spoof Spamhaus ads spammed out
Mail campaign claims to promote spam fighters.
10 July 2007
Fake malware infection alerts spammed out
Latest spam run masquerades as malware warning and fix.
09 July 2007
Fourth of July targeted by trojan spam
Celebration card emails carry links to malware.
04 July 2007
Spammer offers new service
Spammer turns court order into money-making opportunity.
01 July 2007
US porn spammers convicted
Two found guilty of CAN-SPAM breaches.
26 June 2007
China steps up fight against spammers
Blacklist aims to reduce massive spamming levels.
19 June 2007
Spammer enters guilty plea
Admits to having spammed 1.2 million AOL customers.
12 June 2007
Spam barrages take down filters, networks
Report shows increase in spam bombardment attacks.
07 June 2007
Anti-spam laws take hold in Hong Kong
Tough new controls aim at stamping out spam.
01 June 2007
Another 'Spam King' arrested
Spammer brought to book after 4-year campaign.
01 June 2007
Pestilent spammer arrested
Another 'spam king' locked up.
01 June 2007
IETF accepts DKIM specification as proposed standard
Email authentication system moves to approval stage.
23 May 2007
New spam-fighting system for France
Junk mail blacklisting project goes live.
18 May 2007
Phishing moves into more new areas
Surveys, phone lines, USB sticks and call girls the latest tactics for spammers and phishers.
09 May 2007
Law to stop spam reaching kids dubbed a failure
Utah registry to protect children's email leaks cash and addresses.
04 May 2007
Touchy mail blocker upsets Gay
Content filter berates woman for using own name in mails.
02 May 2007
Massive lawsuit brought against spam harvesters
Harvesting detection project aims to prosecute address abusers.
01 May 2007
Email this!
VB stops spammer in his tracks.
01 May 2007
Theft spam, fraud and web threats may rival ad spam
Spring threat reports show rise in spying, zombies, spear-phishing and cracked websites.
24 April 2007
Spam-fighters coalition formed
ICSA announces cooperative forum of anti-spam developers.
13 April 2007
US lengthens lead as top spammer
Rivals improve record to leave US spamming rate a standout.
13 April 2007
UK ISP association issues spam guidelines
ISPA best practices document advises providers on spam control.
05 April 2007
Swiss spam law to enforce user security
New law may penalise careless zombie hosts.
04 April 2007
Spam costing US companies over $70 billion per year
Survey finds junk email costs $713 per head in loss of productivity.
04 April 2007
Phishing attacks reach new high
APWG releases phishing figures for January.
01 April 2007
Scammers launch anti-terrorist hotline
Met Police website spoofed by 419 scammers.
01 April 2007
Major companies hosting spam bots
Zombies in corporate networks spotted pumping out spam.
30 March 2007
Genuine sites hacked by spammers
PHP flaws used to lend legitimate air to spam content.
30 March 2007
MySpace latest to sue spammer Wallace
Social site takes on notorious junk mail merchant.
30 March 2007
Search, link and trackback spam flooding web
Blogs, social sites and search results rivaling email for junk ads.
22 March 2007
UK bankers show 44% rise in online theft
APACS study records major increase in phishing fraud earnings.
14 March 2007
New Zealand passes anti-spam law
As bulk emailing is regulated in NZ, Canada hears calls for similar laws.
09 March 2007
SEC halts trading in spammed stocks
Share trading in 35 pumped and dumped companies suspended.
09 March 2007
Scotsman wins case against spammer
Small claims case nets damages for spammed citizen.
06 March 2007
UK watchdog body backs phishing victims
Consumer group Which? urges banks to protect customers scammed online.
01 March 2007
Phishing techniques
Sorin Mustaca documents common and emerging phishing techniques.
01 March 2007
Backdoor spam targets website operators
Mails posing as security alert from hosting service carry malware.
27 February 2007
MS patents phishy URL blocker idea
Patent filed for suspect address recognition software.
20 February 2007
Australian PM subject of phishing spam
John Howard heart attack emails carrying data-stealing backdoor trojan.
20 February 2007
Mixed messages on Valentine's spam
Storm Worm unleashes another wave of love, but ad spam may be down.
14 February 2007
Singapore proposes tough new spam laws
Proposed bill will hit spammers with heavy fines.
13 February 2007
Hacker tool spammer pleads guilty
Iowa man admits spamming password-stealer sales pitch.
08 February 2007
FTC experts predict better global action on spam
New US laws should bring improvements in worldwide cooperation.
08 February 2007
Dutch spammer gets $97,000 fine
9 billion spams sent in 14 months.
02 February 2007
Koreans arrested for 1.6 billion spam blitz
Duo charged with massive spam and phishing campaign.
01 February 2007
Upcoming events
Round up of this year's must-attend spam events.
01 February 2007
Turing Test to combat phone spam
NEC trumpets smart new VoIP spam blocker.
30 January 2007
MySpace sues Spam King
Serial spammer faces more fines for abusing social system.
24 January 2007
Spams hiding in real emails
Genuine newsletter content used as cover for ad campaign.
23 January 2007
Bad news spams carrying trojans
Storms and killers in headlines aim to hook email readers.
19 January 2007
MySpace data phished and leaked
56,000 login details exposed by phishing researchers.
19 January 2007
More phishers and spammers face prison time
US, Dutch and Japanese police crack down on online bad guys.
17 January 2007
Phishing sites surge in December
General reports of huge rise in figures in late 2006.
16 January 2007
PayPal to issue one-time password tokens
Extra security aims at controlling phishing losses.
12 January 2007
Spammers threaten murder
Hitman death-threat phish reported.
12 January 2007
Spam rise... and fall
Amid glut of spam boom stories, one firm sees big drop.
11 January 2007
eBay to roll out anti-phishing improvement
Member ID protection to go global after localised testing.
10 January 2007
31% of UK businesses flouting spam laws
Survey finds leading companies in breach of EU spam regulations.
08 January 2007
Cisco buys into anti-spam market
Network giant snaps up IronPort for $830 million.
04 January 2007
UK anti-spam victory for Microsoft
Lawsuit won against UK spammer.
03 January 2007
Government agencies take anti-phishing action
Spear-phishing awareness training and testing for staff.
03 January 2007
UK taxman warns of rebate phish
Mails promising tax refund just another scam.
18 December 2006
Microsoft wins block on spam list seller
Court bars bulk email address sales site from further business.
18 December 2006
US Postal Service accused of spamming
Customer email campaign in breach of CAN-SPAM regulations.
15 December 2006
UK phishing up 8000% in two years, says FSA
Government report shows massive rise in scams.
15 December 2006
Putting a price on spam
Email-forwarding system lets users set a fee to let spam through.
14 December 2006
Mobile spam wave hits Europe
Multilingual SMS spams reported.
07 December 2006
EU to fund Symantec phishing studies
Security firm in consortium researching phishing prevention.
05 December 2006
China source of huge phishing surge
Spam watchers see major jump in scam spam sent from China
04 December 2006
Anti-spammer loses case
Anti-spam activist sued in case that brings enforceability of state anti-spam laws into question.
01 December 2006
Europe facing 38 billion spams a day by 2010
Research group releases report on future spam trends.
29 November 2006
EU demands better spam and malware fighting
Commission report calls for smarter response to online onslaught.
29 November 2006
Spammers and phishers target Christmas shoppers
Online shoppers and email users face heightened festive risks.
22 November 2006
McAfee in anti-phishing confusion
Latest study rates all filters poorly, slates SiteAdvisor.
22 November 2006
Firefox anti-phishing better, says Mozilla
Browser phishing filters battle for supremacy.
16 November 2006
Russians dominate spammer top ten
Half of ten worst spammers from former USSR.
14 November 2006
More US political spam
Voter persuasion campaign late and sloppy, says Panda
11 November 2006
US politicians slated for spam tactics
Report criticises leaders for election-pushing mass mail campaigns.
09 November 2006
US way ahead in phishing and spam
PhishTank, Sophos stats put US at top of lists.
07 November 2006
Spam worse than postal junk mail
Survey finds emails more irritating than unwanted paper.
03 November 2006
Wikipedia spam points to malware
Emails used archive function to lend authenticity.
03 November 2006
Spammed trojans posing as McAfee report
Campaign uses security news to bypass security.
02 November 2006
Spamhaus rests easy
US judge rules against suspending Spamhaus domain.
01 November 2006
Spam hits record levels in October
Image-based pump-and-dumps add to inbox bloat.
01 November 2006
Sender ID specification released
Microsoft reveals all as part of its Open Specification Promise.
01 November 2006
New anti-spam group formed
StopSpamAlliance unites international bodies.
01 November 2006
Phish check interface
Developer interface for checking phishy URLs.
01 November 2006
Australian spam firm fined $4.1 million
First case under spam laws brings hefty punishment.
27 October 2006
Sender ID licence opened up
Microsoft frees up access to anti-spam framework.
25 October 2006
UK banks failing online users
Report names and shames insecure banking sites - again.
24 October 2006
IE7 used as phishing lure
Spam campaign tries to hook users with new browser version.
19 October 2006
MySpace users targeted by spam campaign
Phishers pose as online contacts to push bogus shopping sites.
19 October 2006
Domain name threat to Spamhaus
Anti-spam system at risk of losing identity.
11 October 2006
Hormel denied spam copyright
EU court rejects trademark dispute.
05 October 2006
Gmail slashes spam FPs
Hotmail lagging behind on mislabelled ham.
03 October 2006
Web community fights phishing
Vote-based anti-phish system launched.
03 October 2006
More spammers nabbed by Earthlink
ISP helps FBI track down spamming duo.
02 October 2006
Phishers indicted
Six men charged with masterminding a phishing operation.
01 October 2006
Spammer's appeal rejected
Weaselboy conviction upheld.
29 September 2006
AOL phishers indicted
Team of six face jail in Connecticut.
28 September 2006
Volvo syndrome for Mac users
Relative safety may lead to unsafe practices.
28 September 2006
More than 90% of email is spam
Spamhaus founder estimates spam levels significantly higher than other industry monitors.
22 September 2006
Spam King sued again
Serial spammer charged with more spamming.
19 September 2006
FTC shuts down spammers
Four spam companies hit by CAN-SPAM rulings.
18 September 2006
Chain letter email reaps addresses
Fake research a harvesting trick by spammers.
15 September 2006
Spamhaus fined $11.7 million for blocking spam
US judgement meaningless, says UK anti-spam project.
15 September 2006
ISP wins $11 million from spammers
Judgement in EarthLink lawsuit grants heavy payout.
14 September 2006
Barclays phish spammed widely
64% of recent phishes targeting global brand.
13 September 2006
Phishing records broken in July
Highest ever numbers of phishing sites and brands, reports APWG.
12 September 2006
Fake news site carries trojan
Conspiracy warning spam points to exploit web page.
12 September 2006
Spearphishers track eBay trades
Auction losers tempted by second-chance phishes.
12 September 2006
Phishers cast nets less wide
More scams hitting fewer targets, says report.
8 September 2006
MS sues UK spammer
Civil action avoids spam law technicalities.
7 September 2006
Subliminal message hidden in spam
Mail campaign aims to sneak into readers' subconscious minds.
6 September 2006
Nine years for spam felon
Tough sentence upheld despite free-speech claims.
6 September 2006
Phishing on the rise
One in three malicious emails a phish, says MessageLabs.
5 September 2006
New New Zealand spam laws to allow spam
Adjustments to laws may let 'non-commercial' spam continue.
4 September 2006
Future browsers battle phishing
Microsoft and Mozilla's upcoming new versions to include safety measures.
1 September 2006
Spot that spammer
Quiz tests consumers' ability to identify spam causing sites.
01 September 2006
AT&T hack led to spearphish
Stolen details used to trick victims out of further info.
1 September 2006
A fine, a curfew and a treasure hunt
Round up of the month's spammer penalties.
01 September 2006
eBay phishing ups its game
Decent spelling and convincing design aim to trick users.
31 August 2006
Corporate mail spam drops Haxdoor
Business-related message carries trojan.
31 August 2006
iPod spam carries trojan
Fake sales invoice includes downloader.
30 August 2006
Share dealers robbed, phishing suspected
Canadian stock-trading association warns of security breaches.
29 August 2006
Child porn blackmail spam carries trojan
Spoof mail claims to come from anti-child porn site.
24 August 2006
Phishing help for Yahoo! users
As phishing nets spread wider, Yahoo! announces defensive 'seal'.
24 August 2006
Stock scam spam duo sued
Pump-and-dump couple face fines, as do many others worldwide.
22 August 2006
Phishers target more charities
Christian Aid warns supporters of bogus emails, while Katrina phishmaster is indicted.
18 August 2006
AOL digging for spammer's treasure
Web giant plans hunt for hidden spam gold.
16 August 2006
US e-vigilante takes on spammers
65-year-old files 82 cases in two years.
14 August 2006
Spammers sued under child-protection law
State of Michigan accuses spam companies of corrupting minors.
11 August 2006
JFK spam scam
419ers try conspiracy tactic.
09 August 2006
419 ringleader arrested
Scammer made $2m, now behind bars in Lagos.
09 August 2006
Spammers target phones
Text message spam on the rise.
07 August 2006
Rain of phish hits UK
Single botnet responsible for 8 million phishing emails.
03 August 2006
Interpol site spoofed
Beware fake international police organizations...
02 August 2006
BBC hypes 'more than 95% spam rate'
Shock figure drawn from dubious source.
02 August 2006
Anti-phishing best practices
Anti-phishing recommendations for ISPs and mailbox providers.
01 August 2006
Supply of data to spammers stopped
Database thief charged.
01 August 2006
New and revised laws
New anti-spam laws prepared and old ones revisited.
01 August 2006
Market consolidation
Mergers in the anti-spam market.
01 August 2006
Phone phishes
Watch out for fake SMS messages.
01 July 2006
Blue Frog croaks but may rise again
Open source project to create anti-spam opt-out tool based on the defunct Blue Frog service.
01 June 2006
Gone phishing in Japan
Japan's first crackdown on organized phishing.
01 June 2006
Spam papers available
Organizers of the 2006 Spam Conference encourage you to get reading.
01 May 2006
VoIP phishing scam
New species of phish spotted.
01 May 2006
OECD calls for coordination and cooperation
OECD issues 'Recommendation on Cross-Border Cooperation in the Enforcement of Laws against Spam'.
01 May 2006
Code of practice for Australia's ISPs
Legislative code to come into force.
01 April 2006
Largest can-spam fine to be paid
Internet marketing firm makes $900,000 settlement.
01 April 2006
China calculates cost of spam
Lost productivity costs dear.
01 April 2006
AOL targets phishers
Three phishing gangs face legal action
02 March 2006
Vigilant staff avert phishing scam
Scammers halted in their tracks
01 March 2006
China to crack down on spam
China toughens up its anti-spam regulations
01 March 2006
Dutch police arrest Nigerian scammers
419 scamming ring uncovered
01 March 2006
AOL and Yahoo! to adopt sender-pays system
Email by first class.
06 February 2006
Spammer to pay AOL over $5 million
Company wins case against prolific spammer.
01 February 2006
Hong Kong proposes anti-spam bill
Proposals for anti-spam legislation revealed.
01 February 2006
Lawsuit served by email
Costly misclassification of email as spam
10 January 2006
Attempt to ban voicemail spamming
Rogers Wireless Inc. appeals to Canadian Radio-television and Telemarketing Commission for a ban on voicemail spamming.
03 January 2006
Man claims damages for spam
Brit takes action against spammers.
03 January 2006
A global view
live spam map showing exactly where spam is coming from.
30 September 2005
Czech spammers receive fines
The Czech Office for Personal Data Protection (UOOU) imposes first fines for spamming offences.
29 September 2005
Spam 'hotline' for German users
German email users can now report spam directly to the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv)
28 September 2005
Trial and retribution
Former AOL employee Jason Smathers sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for selling customers' email details to spammers.
30 August 2005
Spammer reformed?
Scott Richter, aka the 'Spam King', is no longer classed as a spammer according to Spamhaus's authoritative Register of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO)
30 July 2005
Prolific spammer found dead
Police investigate murder of Russian spammer
27 July 2005
Computer Associates acquires anti-spam firm
CA hops on the bandwaggon
27 July 2005
World's second largest spam-producing country signs up to anti-spam plan
After months of discussions the Chinese government has signed up to the London Action Plan on Spam
05 July 2005
Liberty alliance to safeguard mobile users against spam
Liberty Alliance, puts together team to create service interface specifications for content messaging, in an attempt to safeguard the privacy of mobile device users.
19 June 2005
Microsoft sues again
Microsoft is back in court continuing its fight against spammers.
28 June 2005
Trend raises its anti-spam presence
Trend Micro Inc. acquires IP filtering and reputation services specialist Kelkea (formerly known as Maps).
27 June 2005
Changing CAN-SPAM
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has invited public comment on a number of changes it proposes making to the CAN-SPAM Act.
28 May 2005
Settlement reached in FTC vs Fuel MAX case
FTC settles a case against spammers peddling 'fuel-saving' product
11 May 2005
UN discusses spam
The United Nations (UN) Working Group on Internet Governance focuses on spam, network security and cybercrime
29 April 2005
Car sales website fined for SMS spamming
Australian Communications Authority takes action
05 April 2005
Bankruptcy for Spam King
Microsoft lawsuit cited as reason for bankruptcy
30 March 2005
Spammer investigated in the Ukraine
Spammer undergoes criminal investigation in the Donetsk region of the Ukraine
04 March 2005
Spam conviction dismissed
Judge overturns conviction in US spam case
04 March 2005
MSNBC's spam boob
News channel sends spam message as 'breaking news'
25 February 2005
US spammers arrested
Airport arrest for 18-year-old spammer, and felony charge for SMS election spammer
18 February 2005
Microsoft and Pfizer join forces to slam spam
Two giants unite in the courtroom
14 February 2005
University of Calgary teaches spam
Learnt how to create viruses? Now learn how to create spam and spyware
8 February 2005
India to curb SMS spam
Supreme Court urges government to crack down on mobile spam
8 February 2005
New Zealand to curb spam
Anti-spam codes of conduct for SMS and email
3 February 2005
No soft touch for legitimate companies
FTC representative warns legitimate marketers it will go after them too if they don't comply with CAN SPAM regulations
2 February 2005
German spammers to get hefty fine
New legislation proposes fines to deter would-be spammers
2 February 2005
Tsunami unlocks floodgates for opportunists
An inevitable string of tsunami related hoaxes, fraud attempts and new malware variants
1 February 2005
EarthLink wins case against spammers
'Substantial' cash settlement
26 January 2005
Spammer sues spammed
The tables are turned
19 January 2005
Explosion in SMS spam
Korean cell phone users suffer onslaught of spam
17 January 2005
Texas sues for millions
Two spammers sued by the state of Texas
14 January 2005
FTC granted restraining order against porn spammers
'Sexually explicit' labelling rule violated
12 January 2005
Tsunami scamming begins
FBI warns donors of tsunami disaster relief fraud
6 January 2005
'Spam King' agrees to hold fire
For the time being at least...
5 January 2005
No deal for AOL employee
Judge refuses to accept guilty plea.
22 December 2004
Deal for AOL employee
AOL worker accused of selling customer email lists offered deal.
21 December 2004
ISP wins $1 billion against spammers
Largest judgement against spammers to date.
20 December 2004
Anti-spam law 'unconstitutional'
Judge says Maryland anti-spam law is flawed.
15 December 2004
DDoS stunt over
Lycos ends its 'make love not spam' campaign - but not before the file had been trojanised...
7 December 2004
More spammers for the slammer?
Microsoft continues to make good use of its legal resources.
3 December 2004
Most-spammed sees end in sight
Bill Gates says he hopes to have the spam problem under control within two years - again.
2 December 2004
Email authentication in the open
35 high-profile organisations sign open letter, calling for a rapid rollout of email authentication technologies
2 December 2004
Hotmail originator turns to anti-spam
Sabeer Bhatia, the man behind Hotmail, has announced that he has invested in an anti-spam company
2 December 2004
Save your soul with spam
Spam goes yet one step further - spiritual salvation!
2 December 2004
News by email
New twice-monthly email newsletter dedicated to news and technical information about the spam and anti-spam arena launched.
2 December 2004
Spam-reporting trial
Australia's latest anti-spam initiative
1 December 2004
Spam survey
Do women hate spam more than men? Are humans better at identifying spam than computers? Make your contribution to (anti-)spam research...
29 November 2004
Lycos turns hippy on spam
'Make love not spam'
29 November 2004
Most spammed
Think you've got it bad? Spare a thought for Bill.
19 November 2004
Spam becomes a collectors' item
British man sets up his own Museum of Spam.
29 October 2004
Storms put the wind up spammers
Significant decline in the volume of spam messages seen in the days immediately following the three recent hurricanes.
29 October 2004
Spam gets the sniffles
Spammers seize the opportunity to cash in on the US flu vaccine problem.
28 October 2004
Sender ID specification revised
Microsoft has another stab at getting its email authentication protocol approved.
26 October 2004
Action plan on spam
15 countries sign up to international action plan on spam.
13 October 2004
Online 'museum' displays collection of the finest spam...
As if you haven't already seen enough...
13 October 2004
Symantec to block phishing
Symantec announces new service to help stop phishing scams
24 September 2004
IETF rejects sender ID
The Internet Engineering Task Force has rejected Microsoft's preferred anti-spam specification.
23 September 2004
The bounty hunters are here
US Federal Trade Commission says the US government must be generous with its rewards if it decides to encourage 'bounty hunters' to track down email spammers
20 September 2004
Phish it yourself
Do-it-yourself phishing kits are available free of charge to anyone surfing the Internet.
31 August 2004
Virginian law is constitutional
US judge rules Virginia’s anti-spam law is constitutional.
27 August 2004
Chinese internet firm suspended
One-year suspension issued to mobile phone picture services supplier as punishment for carrying out unsolicited marketing.
26 August 2004
Verizon sues SMS spammers
Despite there currently being no US laws regarding SMS spam.
18 August 2004
Two victories, a settlement and a reduction in spam
A promising month in the fight against spam.
10 August 2004
Spammers brought to justice
Prosecutions made in Denmark, USA and India.
28 July 2004
Spammer to pay $40,000
Spam King agrees to settlement with NY State.
22 July 2004
McAfee plans move to Ireland
Emerald Isle lures another AV firm.
21 July 2004
AOL employee colludes with spammers
AOL victim of inside job.
8 July 2004
The world from an email marketer's point of view
Spam King Scott Richter says he is "out to make the Internet a better place with email marketing" .
07 July 2004
SMS spammer arrested
First Russian to be sentenced for sending spam.
29 June 2004
7 steps to a spam-free existence?
"Stunning" survey results lead to seven-step guide.
28 June 2004
Hormel halts Spam King in his tracks
No 'Spam King' clothing line for Richter.
17 June 2004
German government spammed
Government email systems overwhelmed
27 May 2004
Legislation: NZ makes a move
New Zealand government moves toward anti-spam legislation
27 May 2004
Cajun spammer tells it like it is
Straight talking spammer
23 May 2004
SpamCop at receiving end of a restraining order
Venerable spam reporting outfit SpamCop has had a restraining order granted against it on behalf of alleged spammer OptInRealBig.com.
12 May 2004
Spam on the catwalk
Spammer extraordinaire launches own clothing line
6 May 2004
Figures and fluctuations
Dips, increases and the cost of dealing with spam
6 May 2004
Law and order
Spamming set to become illegal in the Netherlands and other legislative news...
5 June 2004
Business news
Acquisitions and new product lines
28 April 2004
New sentencing, new legislation
United States Sentencing Commission gets busy...
1 April 2004
Shrinking violets
Consolidation in the anti-spam industry
1 April 2004
A bit of R&R
Man. Loves. His. Spam. No really.
21 March 2004
Fine for dialler spam
UK watchdog fines US company for sending spam
1 March 2004
ISPs refile lawsuits
AOL and EarthLink refile suits against spammers
1 March 2004
SMS spam goes down Down Under
Anti-spam code of conduct proves successful
1 March 2004
China sets deadline for spammers
China blacklists offending IP addresses
22 February 2004
Congressional attack on inboxes
US Congressional representatives send bulk email
29 January 2004
An end to 419 spam?
Nigerian government takes action.
29 January 2004
Email coaching for marketers
DMA releases quick-glance reference guide for email marketers.
15 January 2004
US and UK spam legislation in place
Anti-spam legislation in place.
29 December 2003
Seasonal spamming
Increase in spam in lead up to holiday season.
01 December 2003
SpamCop snapped up
IronPort Systems to purchase SpamCop
1 December 2003
Unanimous vote for CAN-SPAM Act
US Senate approves federal anti-spam legislation.
1 November 2003
 |
Blog Archive |  |
 |
Quick Links |  |
| ||||||||||
|
Poll | |
| ||||||
|
Malware Prevalence | |
| ||||||||||||||||
Virus Bulletin currently has 227,267 registered users.