Spam Drops After Internet Providers Disconnect a California Hosting Firm

[13Gigatons]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...ws&sid=ST2008111200662

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 engaged in spam activity, was taken offline.


While its gleaming, state-of-the-art, 30-story office tower in downtown San Jose, Calif., hardly looks like the staging ground for a full-scale cyber crime offensive against America, security experts say a relatively small firm at that location is home to servers that help manage the distribution of the majority of the world's junk e-mail.

According to these experts, the servers are operated by McColo Corp., a Web hosting company that has emerged as a major U.S. staging ground 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.

But the company ceased to be reachable yesterday online, when two Internet providers turned off MoColo's connectivity to the Internet.

 

[rh71]

<arnold> in a panic, they try to pull the plug </arnold>

we all know what happens next...

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

LOL

Awesome.

 

[the unknown]

The internet needs to sue this company for damages. Wasted disk space, bandwidth usage, strain on the infrastructure, and loss of time. I wonder who would represent the internet.

 

[Vehemence]

Originally posted by: the unknown
The internet needs to sue this company for damages. Wasted disk space, bandwidth usage, strain on the infrastructure, and loss of time. I wonder who would represent the internet.

Senator Stevens

 

[HopJokey]

Originally posted by: dNor

Originally posted by: the unknown
The internet needs to sue this company for damages. Wasted disk space, bandwidth usage, strain on the infrastructure, and loss of time. I wonder who would represent the internet.

Senator Stevens

Al Gore?

 

[Foxery]

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
staging ground for a full-scale cyber crime offensive against America

Oh noes, pixel terrorists are bombing my windows!

GG Washington Post for letting someone over age 60 write this article.

 

[ggnl]

Originally posted by: HopJokey

Originally posted by: dNor

Originally posted by: the unknown
The internet needs to sue this company for damages. Wasted disk space, bandwidth usage, strain on the infrastructure, and loss of time. I wonder who would represent the internet.

Senator Stevens

Al Gore?

Excelsior!

 

[DomS]

are you guys cereal? My spam hasn't dropped one bit

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: DomS
are you guys cereal? My spam hasn't dropped one bit

Stop biting on those penis enlargement offers and it will.

 

[aldamon]

Their revenge will not be pretty.

 

[Gand1]

Tubes man...its all in a series of tuuubes!

 

[So]

Originally posted by: HopJokey

Originally posted by: dNor

Originally posted by: the unknown
The internet needs to sue this company for damages. Wasted disk space, bandwidth usage, strain on the infrastructure, and loss of time. I wonder who would represent the internet.

Senator Stevens

Al Gore?

The hat guy from XKCD

 

[moshquerade]

The viagra and INCREASE YOUR PENIS SIZE emails have slowed up recently now that you mention it. :thumbsup:

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
The viagra and INCREASE YOUR PENIS SIZE emails have slowed up recently now that you mention it. :thumbsup:

get anything more interesting than that mosh?

 

[13Gigatons]

Spam I have been getting recently:

1. President Obama has been shot

2. Michelle Obama has committed suicide

3. John McCain dies in a drunk driving accident


These spammers will do anything to get your attention.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

A law has just been put in place in the Netherlands forbidding spam. So I should only be getting foreign spam now! (Ok, 99.9% was already foreign, but still!)

 

[ryan256]

Don't worry. In a few days they will have renamed and reorganized and you can continue getting your discount Viagra offers.

 

[CptCrunch]

Originally posted by: ryan256
Don't worry. In a few days they will have renamed and reorganized and you can continue getting your discount Viagra offers.

this

 

[SparkyJJO]

If that company was a source of so much illegal stuff why weren't they shut down a long time ago? Not just the tubes disconnected but the whole darn place shut down?

 

[TallBill]

Spam, what's that? I love gmail.

 

[Ricochet]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
The viagra and INCREASE YOUR PENIS SIZE emails have slowed up recently now that you mention it. :thumbsup:

Speaking of penis enlargement pills. The number of ads seem to have quadrupled for me. Not through emails but via advertisements on MSN, Yahoo, US Weekly, and so many other sites. Is it just me (or my browser)? Come on, how the hell do they know about my penis size? As if I'm not insecure enough.

 

[Eos]

Why didn't their ISP cap them years ago? We all know that works.

 

[OCGuy]

With all the issues that face the world, lawmakers can find time to outlaw unwanted emails. Priorities, huh?

 

[scott916]

Funny, I wondered why the spam to my work email dropped by over 90% from yesterday to today. I came in to only 7 spams, I'm used to well over 100. Nice!