Trying to contain an electronic beast

E-Brief News reports that the practice is economically viable because advertisers have no operating costs beyond the management of their mailing lists, and it is difficult to hold senders accountable for their mass mailings. But often it is much more than just an annoyance issue. Another new spam campaign claiming to come from a hit man is cropping up in e-mail boxes across the US with recipients ordered to fork out thousands of dollars or face death. A spam e-mail with messages including ‘Fidel Castro dead’ and ‘Saddam Hussein safe and sound’ contained a virus which has infected thousands of computers around the world. And computer virus writers attacked thousands of computers on Friday using an unusually topical e-mail citing raging European storms. AustralianIT reports that the virus was e-mailed to hundreds of thousands of addresses globally. ‘What makes this exceptional is the timely nature of the attack,’ said Mikko Hypponen, head of research at Finnish data security firm F-Secure. ZDNet News reports that over an eight-hour period, malicious e-mails were sent across the globe to hundreds of thousands of people. Full AustralianIT report Full ZDNet News report

The latest findings reveal that the US again led the world as a spam producing, malware hosting country last year. However, China generated the most malicious code in 2006. Sophos, which published its annual threat roundup Monday, said US-based computers were responsible for sending 22% of spam, with China second at 15.9%, and South Korea third at 7.4%. Nine out of every 10 spam messages sent worldwide were sent from so-called ‘zombies,’ computers that were hijacked and sent messages without their owners\' knowledge. InformationWeek reports that the US also led the globe in hosting malware, reported Sophos; its servers accounted for 34.2% of all Web-based malicious code. China again held second place, with 31%. The use of image spam continues to grow, now accounting for as much as two-thirds of all spam, according to a SC Magazine report. Full Information Week report The Sophos\' 2006 report can be downloaded from the company\'s Web site Full SC Magazine report

Not everyone is taking this alarming news lying down. MySpace has filed suit against notorious spammer Scott Richter and alleged cohorts for sending what could become known as MySpam. The Fox Interactive Media site filed a complaint in a US District Court demanding a jury trial against Richters for sending spam messages disguised as communications from members to other MySpace members. ClickZ reports that the suit is another reminder of the ongoing corrosion of social media sites by spam and marketing exploitation. MySpace, which more than 140m members, is hoping for a permanent injunction barring Richter and his affiliated firms from the site, in addition to unspecified monetary damages. In addition to claiming breach of contract and unfair competition, MySpace specifically charges the defendants violated The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, The CAN-SPAM Act, The Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California\'s Anti-Spam Statute. Full ClickZ report

South Africans will have the opportunity to become spammer bounty hunters after several Internet associations clubbed together to offer substantial rewards for the successful prosecution of people who send junk mail. The Star reports that despite legislation against spammers, there had, until now, been no incentive to report spam, according to Internet Society of SA chairman Alan Levin. For an admission of guilt fine, R7 500 will be awarded to the successful litigant, R15 000 for a conviction in the Magistrate\'s Court and R30 000 for a conviction in the High Court. To get the reward, however, prospective bounty hunters will need to follow up with police and prosecutors until the spammer is convicted. Full report in Full report in The Star For more on becoming a spammer bounty hunter, visit the wikipedia site