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Hacking the Spammers

By: Bob Osgoodby

Article Word Count: 945 words  [Comments (0)]
Total Views: 91 Views





I was talking with someone I know who is a real wiz with


computers. He was telling me that if someone is persistent


enough, they can basically break into any computer. Our service


provider was recently attacked and the hackers placed programs


in the system which were disruptive.





Their priorities were to first get the server back up and


running. In order to do this, they had to find and remove the


disruptive files the hacker had placed on the system. Their next


step was to identify how access was gained, and close that


doorway. Finally they will make a concerted effort to identify


the hacker. If, and when they do identify this person, they


intend to prosecute them criminally, and sue them civilly for


the damages they caused.





Surprisingly many of the Hackers are kids still in High School


taking computer science classes. As an exercise, not approved by


their teachers, they create viruses or hack into their friends


computers just for fun, and prove that they can do it. Every


once in awhile however, it backfires and they create something


that doesn't work the way they intended. This can quickly spread


and have world-wide implications.





Other Hackers know exactly what they are doing and have a


malevolent purpose. These people are sick. Their intention is to


hurt others, which they do. These people should be prosecuted to


the full extent of the law.





Hacking is something that must be stopped. eCommerce is growing


everyday, and the actions of these cultural misfits can cost


millions in both money and lost time.





Spammers who send unsolicited ads to thousands by the hour are


also a major problem. While admittedly I have a high profile


email address, and probably receive more than my share of spam,


this can be similarly disruptive to the operation of a business.


There is no reason why I should have to sort through several


hundred ads to find my email. This is disruption of service and


the spammers should be held liable.





Now there are two kinds of spam. At the risk of offending


someone, the first is perceived spam. Some "yo-yo" either signs


up for something, or requests information, and having a mental


lapse, forgets they did. They then complain bitterly when they


receive it.





And then there is the "mental giant" that subscribes to a


newsletter or ezine under one email address, which is forwarded


to their main one, and forgets they did it that way. For


security purposes, they have to be using the mail address they


subscribed under to be removed, and don't. They find it easier


to simply fire off an expletive filled missive to anyone they


can identify.





Be aware that there are some people, who hate spam with such a


passion, they actually get software that parses a message and


automatically sends a complaint to every email address and


domain it finds.





Someone had published an article I had written, and since it


included my domain name, a complaint was fired off. That is


simply not fair. I didn't send the email, it wasn't sent from my


account, but I received a warning. The retard who did that


apparently doesn't care who they hurt in pursuit of their "holy


grail".





But perceived spam is only a very small part of the real


problem. I don't mind getting an unsolicited email from a real


person. I can always ask them to remove me, and they normally


do. A real problem is the spammer who forges an email address,


and if you try to respond, your message is returned as


undeliverable.





Some ISP's have identified domains the spammers use and it is


automatically deleted, so you never see it. In order to combat


this, the spammers send it out their scams with a stolen email


address that actually exists. I recently received over 6,500


remove requests from people who had received an ad for a sex


site, sent out with my return email address someone had used.


This is rather a simple matter, and the headers in the email


clearly show it didn't come from me. However, the inexperienced


would lay the blame squarely on my shoulders. This is identity


theft and the perpetrators should be severely punished.





You are especially at risk to a hack attack if you have either a


DSL or Cable connection, as you are always connected when your


computer is on. Someone could break into your computer and spam


to their hearts content using your account. We have our


computers networked together, and it requires a password to


access the files. While that will protect us from the majority


of attacks, a determined effort could gain access.





The best protection the average person can use is a "firewall"


which prevents people from accessing their computer. Search


engines will quickly reveal where they can be obtained.





Now if we could only get the hackers to concentrate on the


spammers, maybe this entire problem would go away.


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