Spam Filtering

Get ready for cell phone spam

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:59:59 -0400

Anthony Melone, Verizon Wireless's chief technology officer, started getting complaints last March from customers about unsolicited text messages that were flooding the network. He and his Verizon tech staff found the messages were coming from someone using email accounts at Microsoft's Internet portal, msn.com--just one recent source of the estimated 1.5 billion unsolicited cell phone text message expected in 2008.

This not only is an issue for CIOs and their IT departments at telecommunications companies, but also for employers who pay the cell phone bills of their workers and may get stuck with unnecessary charges and even bigger problems. Experts say that besides the annoyance and the extra costs, there is a threat of viruses as phones become more like personal computers.

Carriers adjust their spam filters to try and block offending messages, and computer security companies have developed products to help fight mobile phone spam. It might be worth assessing whether this is an issue at your company, and whether it rises to the level where action is needed.

For more on cell phone spam:
- see this New York Times article

Record year for email spam

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 06:59:58 -0500

Not that any CIO wants to hear this, but spammers ran rampant in 2007. And if you never saw any spam on your system, you had a great spam filter or you were very lucky. In 2007, spam accounted for a large percentage of email traffic, according to SpamStopsHere, a provider of e-mail security and spam filtering solutions. Phishing attacks rose dramatically, too. And spam got more sophisticated. In addition to just blanketing the Internet, spam culprits attached their worms in devious ways to MP3, Zip, Excel, Word and PDF files. There's a lot of surveillance that must take place to prevent this kind of infection.

One spam attack involved the Storm Worm, which claimed to have information about storms. The spam was so effective that experts say the number of PCs infected by Storm Worm could reach 10 million. So what's a CIO to do? Well there is the usual stuff. Train your employees to be wary of strange email, get a strong spam filter and just hope that 2008 will be the year that spam is finally contained and conquered.

For more on growing spam attacks:
- See this press release

FTC targets spam

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:59:59 -0500

The Federal Trade Commission is taking a hard look at the next generation of spam and what companies can do to fight the impact of malicious emails and phishing. In a new report called "The Next Generation of Threats and Solutions," the FTC said that Internet service providers' spam filters are essential to reducing the amount of spam that gets into a user's inbox.

The FTC is looking at spam and other malware as a consumer problem. It is fielding an increasing number of Internet, telemarketing, identity theft and other fraud-related complaints. While the problem is growing, panelists at a recent summit said there are an increasing number of software solutions that can be employed to stop spam in its tracks. These include email authentication and email reputation services. And panelists at the summit also underscored the importance of educating both consumers and businesses to detect and hunt down spam attacks.

While the FTC can do little to shut down all these malicious attacks, summit panelists said the actions of these spammers are inherently criminal, and criminal law enforcement agencies, across the board, should be shutting them down. The FTC's Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database, is available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the United States and abroad. While the problem has not yet been solved, there are ways to fight a problem that is growing, not shrinking, in cyberspace.

To read more about the FTC's efforts to fight spam:
- See this agency report

Poll: Businesses don't enforce network abuse policies

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 20:01:39 -0400

Most CIOs believe that other departments, such as Human Resources, don't understand the role they must play in enforcing network policies and educating employees about acceptable uses of the corporate network. One problem is that HR policies sometimes conflict with data protection requirements. For example, allowing one user to use another's account isn't often seen as a serious issue but should be considered egregious. HR also finds it difficult to understand the technical difficulties of managing logs, white lists and spam filters, while still expecting employees to be able to access internet sites that may contain risks. The key is educating HR.

Read more about enforcing network abuse policies:
- read the article at Silicon

Email delivery demands work

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 20:01:37 -0400

When email emerged as a marketing and business communications tool, it was a free-for-all situation. But today it's anything but, with IT working harder than ever to get company email delivered past spam filters. Tech leaders also have to make sure that the company's email "rep" stays in good standing and that in using the digital messaging format it's not becoming a nuisance or spam organization itself. As several experts point out, there typically isn't a one-size-fits-all solution, but rather a combination of different strategies that are needed to keep email's return on investment strong. One company developed its own proprietary tools, brought on hired hands and put a dedicated staff member on the case to ensure that emails got delivered and that the corporate reputation wasn't damaged.

For more on making efficient use of email communications:
- read this News.com article

Using various 'lists' to stop spam

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 20:01:36 -0400

Battling spam and spyware is a daily fight, and as tech leaders know there are lots of different approaches and technologies to grab. One big category is the list: blacklist, whitelist and greylist. Most have likely heard and know the value of whitelisting to ensure email arrives and doesn't get caught in spam filters. But many might not know how greylisting works into the mix between the two extremes of email protection and why blacklisting can be a dangerous environment to move into.

For more on the listing way to stop spam:
- read this InfoWorld article