Fergie's Tech Blog

Large Enterprises Still Serving Up Spam

Matt Hines writes on InfoWorld:

Well-known enterprise companies are still having their IT systems hijacked by spammers despite investing in many different types of technologies aimed at stopping the problem.

Last week, researchers at network security company Support Intelligence isolated an IP address within insurance giant Aflac that was being used by spammers to distribute mass amounts of e-mail messages, most of which were related to erectile dysfunction.

Over the course of a 24-hour period beginning on April 10, researchers at Support Intelligence and the SenderBase project estimated the volume of spam being distributed from the affected Web server, much of which included a pharming attack, jumped by more than 750 percent.

Once informed of the problem, representatives at Aflac said they began work to shut down the rogue spam source, but researchers said that the incident further illustrates the problems that many enterprises are still facing in battling spam.

As spammers have begun tapping into botnets controlled by other parties and found new methods for distributing their work via hijacked computers, the issue has only intensified, said Rick Wesson, chief executive of Support Analysis.

posted by Fergie @ 4/18/2007 10:28:00 PM