spam

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Hackers Get 43 Cents for Every Hijacked Mac

(Newser) - Mac users, beware: the Russians are after you. A notorious network of spammers in the country pays hackers 43 cents for every Mac they infect with fake software, an investigator says. At a security conference in Switzerland, the researcher laid out a specific scheme to get Mac users to install...

Hookers Are Turning Off Twitterers
Hookers Are
Turning Off
Twitterers
OPINION
Sep 2, 2009 6:27 AM CDT

Hookers Are Turning Off Twitterers

Rising tide of porn spam threatens family market

(Newser) - Porn spam is becoming more prevalent on Twitter and the site needs to step up enforcement or risk losing plenty of users, writes Sarah Lacy in BusinessWeek. Prostitutes seem to have flocked to Twitter of late, Lacy writes, noting that her husband received 43 scantily clad "followers" in just...

Twitter's Meltdown: Blame the Russians?

(Newser) - So why did Tweets fall silent for much of today? One leading theory traces the problem to the unlikeliest of places—the conflict between Russia and Georgia, CNET reports. It goes like this: A pro-Georgia blogger with accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and the other sites affected by today's slowdown attracted...

Jackson Traffic Threatened to Break Internet

(Newser) - The surge in Internet traffic yesterday as Michael Jackson fans searched for information about his death had a deep impact on the Web, Ars Technica reports. Sites as diverse as Twitter and the iTunes Store slowed to a crawl, but perhaps the most profound effect was on Google. The search...

Don't Get 'Tagged' By This Site
 Don't Get 'Tagged' By This Site 
OPINION
Jun 11, 2009 2:58 PM CDT

Don't Get 'Tagged' By This Site

Social network spams contacts without permission

(Newser) - The US’ third-largest social network is also the world’s most annoying website, Sean Gregory writes in Time. An e-mail about photos from an ex-boss lured him to Tagged, only to lead him through a confusing registration that spammed all his contacts with an informal note. “I don’t...

12 Museums of Odd Things
 12 Museums of Odd Things 
May 18, 2009 5:02 PM CDT

12 Museums of Odd Things

(Newser) - Trying to awake from the nightmare of history? Mental Floss' list of 12 "oddly specific" American museums may only give you bad dreams:
  • The SPAM Museum: Complete with a wall of 5,000 SPAM tins and a scale plant where visitors can suit up in white coats and
...

Hackers Dupe Facebook Users
 Hackers Dupe Facebook Users 
May 15, 2009 8:49 AM CDT

Hackers Dupe Facebook Users

Phishing scheme scores password information

(Newser) - Hackers went Facebook-phishing yesterday, nabbing the passwords of an undisclosed number of users, Reuters reports. Facebook is working to restore the site and has blocked accounts hit in what it believes was a ploy to spread future spam. Hackers broke into accounts, sending users’ friends emails that contained links to...

Conficker Virus Comes Alive, Attacks PCs

(Newser) - Weeks after causing an April Fool's scare, the Conficker bug has come to life and used some personal computers to send out spam, Reuters reports. The computer virus, which has infected millions of PCs, downloaded the spam software onto a small percentage of them in recent weeks. One expert warns...

Spam Doesn't Waste Energy, Humans Do
 Spam Doesn't Waste 
 Energy, Humans Do 
ANALYSIS
Apr 16, 2009 12:25 PM CDT

Spam Doesn't Waste Energy, Humans Do

Study miscalculates how people use computers: Kaplan

(Newser) - A recent study that equates spam’s carbon footprint to that of a whopping 2.4 million homes is fascinating, but completely wrong, Jeremy Kaplan writes in PC Magazine. The researchers traced most of the energy usage to the end user’s computer, but that energy-waster would probably be left...

Energy-Wasting Spam Also a Pain in the Earth

It hurts environment and productivity, authors say

(Newser) - Spam e-mails consume 20% of companies' energy budgets, enough collectively to run 2.4 million houses, says a study commissioned by the security firm McAfee. Most of the waste results from end users sifting through the 62 trillion junk items sent annually, eWeek reports. Eliminating spam would be the equivalent...

After Respite, Spam Now 94% of All Email

Nov. crackdown cut junk by 70%, but mailers have recovered

(Newser) - Like it or not, spam has made a comeback. Unwanted junk email is back up to 94% of all traffic, according to Google’s anti-spam Postini division. Spammers suffered a setback in November, when web backbone providers banned McColo Corp., a server spammers used to coordinate attacks, the New York ...

Congo Con Joins Madoff Victims' Chorus ... Sorta

Standard 'foreign investment' scam email made it past US Attorney's office

(Newser) - The federal prosecutors collecting testimonials from victims of Bernard Madoff for the judge slated to sentence him don’t appear to have been too discerning, Josh Marshall reports for Talking Points Memo, after a standard-issue “African businessman” spam email made it into the pile. And though the promised $3....

Computer Virus Targets Gullible Lovebirds

Clicking on heart images in email could turn your machine into spambot

(Newser) - A Valentine-themed spam campaign is underway, with a side dish of coercion and extortion, Computer Weekly reports. Users receive an email, ostensibly from a secret admirer, with a link to a website that downloads a bot called Waledec. Not only does Waledec co-opt the user’s address list and start...

Spam Filters Silently Censoring Your Email
Spam Filters Silently Censoring Your Email
OPINION
Nov 29, 2008 10:54 AM CST

Spam Filters Silently Censoring Your Email

Internet blacklists invisible but powerful

(Newser) - With spam running rampant across the net, in-boxes have become heavily armed fortresses against the unsolicited hordes. Unfortunately, we’ve overdone it, writes James McGrath Morris in the Washington Post. Morris recently discovered that spam filters would gobble up the latest issue of his newsletter, the Biographer’s Craft, because...

Spammers Bounce Back After Host Shutdown

Zombie spam-sending computers reactivated from foreign ISPs

(Newser) - Spammers are surging back onto the Internet again, 2 weeks after being dealt a body blow by a server shutdown, CNET News reports. Spam volumes dived 80% after the California-based McColo hosting firm was pulled offline. They remained flat until a few days ago but have now risen to around...

Court Pokes Facebook Spammer for $873M

Cybercriminal accused of hijacking user profiles to send out millions of messages

(Newser) - Facebook has won an $873 million judgment against a man accused of hijacking user profiles to spew spam, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The award—the biggest ever under federal spamming laws—was made against a Canadian citizen who Facebook accused of stealing login details to send more than 4...

Spam Plummets (for Now) as Big Provider Goes Offline

(Newser) - Notice less spam in your mailbox today? If so, it's because Internet service providers yanked a California outfit offline that had been responsible for sending about 75% of the world's electronic junk mail, reports the Security Fix blog in the Washington Post. The providers—acting on information provided by the...

Malware Hijacks Obama Emails
 Malware Hijacks Obama Emails 
Nov 6, 2008 7:40 AM CST

Malware Hijacks Obama Emails

Spammers launch massive 'Obama Trojan' malware campaign to capitalize on victory

(Newser) - Malicious hijackers have hitched a ride on the Barack Obama bandwagon, ChannelWeb reports. "Obama Trojan" emails offer a link to an amazing Obama speech or election results, but when the link is opened, it infects computers with malware that sends the user's personal data to a command center and...

Feds Bust One of World's Largest Spammers

Feds say network sent 10B emails a day

(Newser) - Thank the feds if you find fewer offers for Viagra in your inbox today. The FTC says it shut down one of the world's largest spam operations, which promoted the sale of prescription drugs and male enhancement pills by way of billions of illegal email messages, the Chicago Tribune reports....

In Email In-Boxes, Obama Wins in a Spam-Slide

Unwanted emailers 6 times less likely to mention McCain

(Newser) - Spammers love Barack Obama, or at least love writing about him: He beats John McCain  six to one in spam mentions, reports Ars Technica. Obama mentions surged during the Republican National Convention last month, even though media coverage featured McCain more frequently than his opponent. Obama emails highlight religion and...

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