Filling The Spam Vacuum

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By: Garrick Lau on November 27th, 2008
Posted in: Inside OpenSRS
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Comments: 7

A few weeks ago, web hosting firm McColo was shut down after it was discovered that up to two-thirds of the world’s email spam was originating from its servers. For a while, the number of spam messages being delivered decreased dramatically. However, after this brief reprieve, spam volumes are already increasing again, according to a recent article from BBC News.

The business of spam, like all businesses, is a competitive one. When one large spam gang goes down, it leaves an open opportunity for other spam gangs to gain market share. It’s no surprise to hear that other spam gangs are ramping up their efforts, knowing that there’s money up for grabs. McColo is also likely scrambling to get back online in some shape or form before they lose too much of their market share.

The infrastructure in place today to protect most systems has not changed. The capacity to handle the spam as well as deliver it is still there and the gangs know that they must take advantage quickly. With the economy in a downturn, it’s not likely the people in these gangs will be able to find day jobs…not that they would ever want to.

Some Thoughts on Bots and the Personal Computer

According to the BBC News article, some 450,000 infected computers (or bots) were still trying to connect to the largest of the networks hosted by McColo. How does an innocuous home computer become part of this worldwide network of nuisance?

The process of formatting and re-installing the operating system of a personal computer has been improved slightly over the years but it’s still an arduous task that only real geeks actually enjoy.

I think about my parents’ home computer and how various “uncles” visit with contraband software; how they’ll download and install all sorts of seemingly useless computer software tchotchkes, unaware of any security risks. This is your typical bot PC. As users let their software subscriptions to anti-virus and anti-spam services lapse, their computers are left with minimal protection.

The format and re-install process should really be as simple as hitting the reset button and waiting a couple of hours and voila! Good as new. All PCs should be formatted and all software re-installed at least three times a year. I’m sure this is already a “best practice” out there, but how often does this really happen? Given the size of botnets out there, not often enough.

Can you imagine if all PCs were to be formatted and their software re-installed on the same day? Spam levels could drop by 80% or more in one shot! Let’s have an annual PC reformat day and let’s see what it does to spam levels worldwide! What do you think?