Spam news

Online scammers have found a new way to skirt anti-spam filters, this time by making use of Adobe Flash files hosted on free websites. Spam messages with innocuous-looking content contain links to Flash-based files on ImageShack.com and elsewhere. Commands embedded in the files redirect the recipient to sites that punt Viagra, work-at-home offers and free software updates.

The number of compromised zombie PCs in botnet networks has quadrupled over the last three months, according to figures from the Shadowserver Foundation.

Having a username that comes earlier in the alphabet may get you more spam, due to the dictionary attack techniques used by spammers.

Owners of illegal pharmaceutical supply businesses may pay up to 40% commission to botnet owners who advertise their sites.

A growing large-scale botnet called Rustock is sending spam containing fake headlines in an attempt to add new machines to its net.

Hackers targeting Georgia in the midst of its conflict with Russia have started sending out a new batch of malicious spam messages, apparently with the aim of building a new botnet network of remote-controlled computers.

By personalizing phishing emails (spear phishing) impersonating the University of Otago, spammers managed to obtain the passwords of four staff members, whose accounts were used to send 1.5m spam emails in 60 hours during the last couple of days.

It's easy to get your domain blacklisted by ISPs by making any one of eight simple errors.

In the past few weeks, a spam botnet called Rustock flooded the Internet with what looked to be CNN's Top 10 news stories and video clips. However, all of the links went to the same address, a download site for a Trojan.

A report by PandaLabs says that on average during the second quarter of this year, more than 10 million zombie computers were sending spam and emails with malware every day. 74% of all email received was spam.

ClearMyMail reports that spam received by UK internet users has quadrupled, with the average user targeted with more than 30,000 spam emails in the past three months. Customers of the ISP Orange are the worst hit.

Google saw more infectious spam messages in July than any month so far this year. The volume of e-mail virus attacks peaked at almost 10 million on a single day.

Angelina Jolie is the most popular celebrity name used by spammers to tempt people into opening unsolicited email, according to new research. Around 2.28 per cent of all the emails sent in July contained the Hollywood actress's name somewhere in the subject field.

Verisign has developed software to spot trading patterns typical of pump-and-dump spammers.

Users of Apple's new MobileMe service are the target of a phishing scam aimed at persuading them to reveal their passwords.