Global spam problems have significantly increased during the first quarter of 2010, with a rise in snowshoe spam and an exponential growth in Botnet spam distribution.
Snowshoe spam, which rose dramatically during the final quarter of 2009, before tapering off in January, is now experiencing resurgence. Snowshoe spam is identified as a central point of spam origin, using a wide variety of IP addresses to cloak the span. These addresses are typically within a /24 range but may encompass much larger address blocks. In this type of operation the spam is spewed from a network, rapidly spanning through the IP addresses within the network, emitting spam in a wide footprint. The intent is to make the technique more efficient and more difficult to identify. Read more…
The country of Viet Nam has moved from number six to number two on the Country IP Blocks list of global spammers. The rise in spam from Viet Nam has risen so dramatically during the past quarter that China could soon move from its top spot to second place.
The list of the Top Ten Global Spammers has shifted during the third quarter of 2009. An increase in spam of 41% since June 1, 2009 has also brought with it a significant change in the geographical locations of the spammers. Read more…
Tip #5
Be Paranoid About Your Website Traffic
Website hacks happen on one of two ways, from external sources or internal sources.
You’ve established strong passwords, validated user input, kept your software updated and limited viewable personal and business data. You’re paranoid and off to a great start. But now you need to monitor your website traffic.
Whether you are on a Windows Server, a flavor of Unix and Apache, all servers create several types of traffic logs. These logs can provide lots of information including smtp access, password crack attempts, and website access and error logs.
Website logs are your friends. Use them. If you don’t have access to these logs contact your hosting company and find out what they have available for your use. If your site gets little traffic, examining the logs manually will be easy. Read more…
Tip #8
Be Paranoid About Your Email Addresses
Everybody hates spam except the spammers. Spam accounts for close to 90% of all email communication. It’s big business. It’s profitable. For the chance to make a millions to billions of dollars with very little effort, spammers have a great incentive to make your life miserable.
Spam brings unwanted advertisements and the dangers of viruses, Trojans, malware, spyware, identity theft and control of botnets.
Receive email and chances are you will receive spam.
Your first line of defense is your email address. Read more…