German Spam Floods Inboxes

*Akasha* · June 11, 2004, 10:20 AM

E-mail users around the world got a rude awakening Thursday when a spammer flooded their inboxes with nationalist, borderline-racist propaganda in German.

The messages -- which appeared to blame immigrants, prisoners and welfare recipients for Germany's problems -- hit recipients in California, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands, according to initial reports on antispam mailing lists. Some recipients reported receiving just a few messages, while others reported being overwhelmed by thousands of pieces of the spam.

In comparison to other propaganda that can be found on the Internet, the messages are relatively mild. "Bankruptcy of the health service by foreigners" read the subject line of one message. "What Germany needs is more German children," argued another.

But it wasn't the context of the messages that had some observers troubled. Rather, it was the method by which they were transmitted: through spam zombies.

Zombies are personal computers that have been infected with a virus that allows spammers to control them from a remote location for the purposes of sending out mass quantities of spam. These infected machines allow spammers to send much more e-mail than they could with their own e-mail server. It also makes it harder for authorities to trace the source of the messages.

Technologists said they believe political activists may be finding these qualities more and more attractive as they seek to spread their message beyond local boundaries. For e-mail users, that could mean more propaganda is on the way.

"It's the online equivalent to those guys who scream at you in subways, only now they have spamware to amplify their crazed ramblings," said Steven Champeon, technology chief of consulting firm hesketh.com. "I can't wait to start getting mail regarding that pressing town-meeting issue in East Overshoe, Wyoming, that has no bearing on me or my life and about which I can do nothing."

IronPort spam strategist Julian Haight, founder of the company's SpamCop antispam service, confirmed that Thursday's blast had the markings of a zombie-aided mailing. "We're seeing the same message sent from a variety of IP addresses, which tells me that it was sent from a farm of zombies," he said. "Chances are that somebody with a political agenda is contracting with a spammer from start to finish."

Unfortunately for the unwilling recipients of such messages, tracking down the senders can be next to impossible. In addition to being able to hide behind spam zombies, the senders have another thing going for them: They're not leaving a money trail.

"Usually, you expect some punch line about which bank you can send your money to," said Haight. "But there's nothing like that in these messages." The usual tactic of buying a product and waiting to see who collects the money is, therefore, not an option in this case.

In other words, unless technologists modify the underlying architecture of the Internet to prevent zombie attacks, political activists have at their disposal a perfect megaphone, one that can't be turned off.

Said Champeon, "Welcome to the new Internet."

Information Source : Wired News!

June 11, 2004, 10:20 AM	#1 (permalink)
Akasha	German Spam Floods Inboxes E-mail users around the world got a rude awakening Thursday when a spammer flooded their inboxes with nationalist, borderline-racist propaganda in German. The messages -- which appeared to blame immigrants, prisoners and welfare recipients for Germany's problems -- hit recipients in California, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands, according to initial reports on antispam mailing lists. Some recipients reported receiving just a few messages, while others reported being overwhelmed by thousands of pieces of the spam. In comparison to other propaganda that can be found on the Internet, the messages are relatively mild. "Bankruptcy of the health service by foreigners" read the subject line of one message. "What Germany needs is more German children," argued another. But it wasn't the context of the messages that had some observers troubled. Rather, it was the method by which they were transmitted: through spam zombies. Zombies are personal computers that have been infected with a virus that allows spammers to control them from a remote location for the purposes of sending out mass quantities of spam. These infected machines allow spammers to send much more e-mail than they could with their own e-mail server. It also makes it harder for authorities to trace the source of the messages. Technologists said they believe political activists may be finding these qualities more and more attractive as they seek to spread their message beyond local boundaries. For e-mail users, that could mean more propaganda is on the way. "It's the online equivalent to those guys who scream at you in subways, only now they have spamware to amplify their crazed ramblings," said Steven Champeon, technology chief of consulting firm hesketh.com. "I can't wait to start getting mail regarding that pressing town-meeting issue in East Overshoe, Wyoming, that has no bearing on me or my life and about which I can do nothing." IronPort spam strategist Julian Haight, founder of the company's SpamCop antispam service, confirmed that Thursday's blast had the markings of a zombie-aided mailing. "We're seeing the same message sent from a variety of IP addresses, which tells me that it was sent from a farm of zombies," he said. "Chances are that somebody with a political agenda is contracting with a spammer from start to finish." Unfortunately for the unwilling recipients of such messages, tracking down the senders can be next to impossible. In addition to being able to hide behind spam zombies, the senders have another thing going for them: They're not leaving a money trail. "Usually, you expect some punch line about which bank you can send your money to," said Haight. "But there's nothing like that in these messages." The usual tactic of buying a product and waiting to see who collects the money is, therefore, not an option in this case. In other words, unless technologists modify the underlying architecture of the Internet to prevent zombie attacks, political activists have at their disposal a perfect megaphone, one that can't be turned off. Said Champeon, "Welcome to the new Internet." Information Source : Wired News!