Usenix: 'Arms race' between spammers, spam filters under way

Grok Headline matches for Usenix: 'Arms race' between spammers, spam filters under way

Spam-filters bounce email about
spam-filters

Spam-filters bounce email about
spam-filters 01/19/2004 01:55 PM
Spam-filters are trained to catch anything that looks like spam, including discussions of spam and spam-filters.

"Patterns of e-mail use are definitely being impacted both by spam and by antispam filters," said Craig Hughes, chief architect at McAfee Security and co-developer of the open-source SpamAssassin spam-filter project.

"I myself run into the problem all the time, mainly because what I'm corresponding about frequently involves discussions of spam or particular spam strategies..."

"I've lost count of the number of e-mails that get bounced back thanks to spam filters getting triggered by completely innocent words and phrases," said Suresh Ramasubramanian, head of security and antispam operations for managed mail-services firm Outblaze.

Link

Spammers Adding Text From Books To Avoid
Filters

Spammers Adding Text From Books To Avoid
Filters 12/02/2003 12:14 AM
Every time the filters get better, spammers try to figure out a way around them. You might think that a spammer would realize if people are going through so much trouble to block them, that they're less likely to be happy to receive the spam, but apparently that's not the case. Instead of focusing in on the small group of people who actually are interested in spam, they're wasting their time trying to get messages to those people who will never respond to the stuff. Anyway, according to this article, now that spammers know that some filters look for certain keywords and determine how much of the email message is likely to be spam, they're apparently cutting and pasting the text from various classic pieces of literature right into the spam. This way, they're figuring that since so much of the spam isn't "spammy" the filters won't catch it. I doubt this is going to work very well. Most spam filters look at a combination of factors, including headers, to filter out spam. Just adding more useless text on top of the actual spam should only trick a few of the most basic spam filters.

"Spammers use text from novels to fool
Bayesian filters"

"Spammers use text from novels to fool
Bayesian filters" 12/03/2003 09:47 PM

Bagle Virus Riding on the Coattails of
Spam; Deceiving Spam and Virus Filters

Bagle Virus Riding on the Coattails of
Spam; Deceiving Spam and Virus Filters 08/12/2004 02:51 AM
Spam Inspector Software Developers Working to Stay Ahead of Bagle to Keep Users Protected [PRWEB Aug 12, 2004]

How .Mac filters spam

How .Mac filters spam 05/14/2004 01:37 PM
A recent knowledge base entry describes in fairly good detail how spam is filtered from .Mac accounts. According to Apple uses software from Brightmail along with list-based filtering. Apparently Apple also does something on their own:

.Mac also monitors all incoming message activity for trends. This information can reveal a previously unknown source of spam when they begin to send mail to members of the .Mac community.

It's an interesting look behind .Mac. For our .Mac using readers: how good is the spam blocking?

MIT Spam Conference looks beyond filters

MIT Spam Conference looks beyond filters 01/17/2004 10:42 PM
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. - Leading researchers into spam e-mail, along with some of its victims, gathered on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Friday for the second annual MIT Spam Conference.

Spam Filters & .NET 2003 COM Add-Ins

Spam Filters & .NET 2003 COM Add-Ins 05/19/2004 05:39 PM
DDJ May 19 2004 9:02PM GMT

MIT Spam Conference looks beyond
filters.

MIT Spam Conference looks beyond
filters. 01/17/2004 10:45 PM
InfoWorld: MIT Spam Conference looks beyond filters. The webcast archives from the conference are available.

Oriental Spam Fools Filters

Oriental Spam Fools Filters 09/21/2004 05:05 AM
TechTree Sep 21 2004 9:51AM GMT

Beware free spam filters

Beware free spam filters 01/18/2004 07:03 AM

E-texts used against Bayesian
spam-filters

E-texts used against Bayesian
spam-filters 12/02/2003 07:37 AM
Bayesian anti-spam filters count word-frequency in suspect and compare the results to profiles of word-frequency in spam and ham. Defeating this requires that your spam include a lot of natural human prose. So spammers have started to mine the Gutenberg Project and other sources of human-generated ASCII and dumping random hunks of literature into their messages to get around the filters.

Blogger and journalist Clive Thompson found an excerpt from Chapter 20 of The Master Key by Wizard of Oz author L Frank Baum in a message that had as its subject line "the big unit" (no prizes for guessing what the rest of it was hawking).

Link

Testing Gmail's Spam filters

Testing Gmail's Spam filters 06/14/2004 11:32 AM
Ever wonder how long it takes to fill 1GB of mail space with spam? Aaron Pratt ( prattboy@gmail.com ) is trying to find out. He has asked people to give his email out to as many newsletters, spammers, any kind of annoying mail that he can recieve. You can see some of his results here (mirror) More…

Can't Avoid Anti-Spam Filters

Can't Avoid Anti-Spam Filters 04/28/2004 11:40 AM
While there are still many problems with spam filtering technology, most corporate IT staff say that they c ouldn't manage without anti-spam technology. The problem is that there are so many different spam filtering technologies out there, and it's difficult to know which ones work well. While some say that eventual consolidation in the industry should sort out the mess, most companies don't have time to wait around for that to happen.

Spam Filters and Collateral Damage

Spam Filters and Collateral Damage 01/24/2004 12:35 PM
I just had an instant message from someone who has been trying to send me an e-mail, but found it blocked by what he called my company's "fascist virus scanning system." I directed him to a different address, a personal one that allowed the message to come through. I examined it and have no clue what word in the text (there was no file attachment) could have tripped the filter.

Firms won't pay extra for spam filters

Firms won't pay extra for spam filters 06/09/2004 05:59 AM
vnunet.com Jun 9 2004 9:47AM GMT

Anti-Spam Filters, ISPs, and the Law

Anti-Spam Filters, ISPs, and the Law 06/10/2004 02:47 AM
Why should we let ISPs dictate the source and content of the e-mail they allow us to receive? That's the question posed by ImagineNation in a recent white paper on mail filters and the consequences of ISPs using mail filters and other schemes to block spam mail. The white paper is a free report from the company available at http://eMstamp.org/Documents/ [PRWEB Jun 10, 2004]

Spam Filters Grab Good With Bad

Spam Filters Grab Good With Bad 01/19/2004 07:20 AM
The growing use of antispam filters that weed out messages containing words commonly used by junk e-mailers is forcing legitimate e-mail senders to choose their language carefully. By Michelle Delio.

Spam Wars: Filters Strike Back

Spam Wars: Filters Strike Back 11/04/2003 06:25 AM
Until now, antispam developers and their products have played defense only. But now, one activist wants spam filters to automatically launch attacks against suspected spammers' sites to shut them down. By Amit Asaravala.

Two Spam Filters 10 Times As Accurate As
Humans

Two Spam Filters 10 Times As Accurate As
Humans 05/31/2004 06:41 PM
Slashdot - 5 hours ago ... I'm on the subject of mail, what is a good all in one mail bundle with webbased interface that isn't opengroupware or ms exchange for php/apache under unix? ...

Extreme Spam Filtering – When Filters
and Blacklists Are Not Enough.

Extreme Spam Filtering – When Filters
and Blacklists Are Not Enough. 02/07/2005 01:05 AM
Protect Multiple POP, Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, or IMAP E-mail Accounts from Spammers with 0Spam.com. Compatible with all E-mail clients and operating systems. [PRWEB Feb 6, 2005]

University Capitulates, Switches Off
Spam Filters

University Capitulates, Switches Off
Spam Filters 05/23/2004 08:57 PM

New Company Provides Spam Elimination
Services Without Using Filters

New Company Provides Spam Elimination
Services Without Using Filters 07/09/2004 03:42 AM
Email in Focus provides spam protection for existing email addresses with higher accuracy and less cost. [PRWEB Jul 9, 2004]

Copyrighted Haiku Delivers Spam Through
Filters

Copyrighted Haiku Delivers Spam Through
Filters 01/19/2004 05:00 AM

"By including random text the
spammers hope to fool the filters into
thinking that a human, not a spammer,
wrote the message."

"By including random text the
spammers hope to fool the filters into
thinking that a human, not a spammer,
wrote the message." 12/03/2003 05:14 AM
cutting and pasting the text from various classic pieces of literature .. Spammers turn to classic prose .. BBC

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3247200.stm
track this site | 6 links

Comdex: Microsoft builds spam filters
into Exchange

Comdex: Microsoft builds spam filters
into Exchange 11/14/2003 05:14 PM
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will use his keynote address at the Comdex 2003 trade show to tout the company's Exchange Intelligent Message Filter.

Microsoft updates Outlook 2003 Spam
Filters

Microsoft updates Outlook 2003 Spam
Filters 12/16/2003 12:33 PM
Microsoft has updated it's virus filters to help users catch a higher percentage of spam. [Microsoft]...

Bulk E-Mail Fees Near As Spam Filters
Fail (Boo)

Bulk E-Mail Fees Near As Spam Filters
Fail (Boo) 02/17/2004 06:09 AM

news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory &c=StoryFT&cid=1075982579138&p=1012571727088
track this site | 4 links

Wired News: Spam Wars: Filters Strike
Back

Wired News: Spam Wars: Filters Strike
Back 11/05/2003 06:25 AM
How about stopping them by attacking them back .. Spam Wars: Filters Strike Back .. getting nasty

wired.com/news/business/0,1367,61012,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2track this site | 4 links

TMO Reports - Third-party Spam Filters
Reap Apple Mail Woes

TMO Reports - Third-party Spam Filters
Reap Apple Mail Woes 02/19/2004 11:38 AM
Hodges and many other Mail users are turning to other alternatives to manage their junk mail and still use Apple's Mail application, despite its un-repaired problems. To the rescue has come a number of third-party spam filters that work together with Apple Mail using an AppleScript command, which sends a mail message to the separate filter to be checked. The mail is then re-routed back to Mail using AppleScript to be deposited in either a junk mail folder or in a regular e-mail in-box.

Why do Spammers Spam?

Why do Spammers Spam? 05/14/2004 09:17 AM
Ladies and Gentleman that is the million dollar question and now we have some insight into exactly what is happening...

A Look Into How Spammers Spam

A Look Into How Spammers Spam 05/14/2004 01:32 PM
Nothing all that surprising here, but some anti-spammers have managed to get themselves into the various "spam clubs" where top spammers trade tips with each other. From that they've learned, as we all pretty much knew already, that the state of the art in spamming is using compromised machines that have had a trojan installed on them. Lists of such controllable machines are offered to other spammers, both for additional spamming capabilities and for denial of service attacks. Basically, the spammers have built up quite a distributed super computer - and those contributing cycles and bandwidth don't even know about it.

Anti-Spammers Don't Need CAN-SPAM

Anti-Spammers Don't Need CAN-SPAM 09/25/2004 12:00 AM
While the CAN-SPAM act was meant to stop spam, it obviously hasn't yet. Although it's pretty easy to point out some of CAN-SPAM's flaws, it's perhaps better that some anti-spam activists are actually taking spammers to court -- though mostly citing pre-existing laws regarding false advertising or deception. Armed with these older and easier-to-understand laws, the Informal Coalition of Private Anti-spam Litigants (ICPAL) and the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy (ISIPP) have helped some businesses and devout anti-spammers take some sleazy mass emailers to court and win a few sizable monetary judgments. Still, the strategy for these anti-spammers is to remain informal but organized, so that spammers can't retaliate. However, these anti-spammers also say they're not in it for the money, and some have refused to settle out of court on principle. Given that some of the spammers are hard to actually find, much less extract damages from, it looks like these vigilante organizations may remain small and informal until perhaps some bounties are put out on spammers heads.

IBM aims to spam the spammers

IBM aims to spam the spammers 03/23/2005 08:01 AM
Chicago Tribune Mar 23 2005 12:02PM GMT

Spammers not deterred by Can Spam Act

Spammers not deterred by Can Spam Act 01/02/2004 12:04 PM
Same old tactics

Spammers undeterred by Can-Spam Act

Spammers undeterred by Can-Spam Act 12/30/2004 06:52 AM
ZDNet UK Dec 30 2004 10:43AM GMT

Spammers Not Complying With CAN-SPAM

Spammers Not Complying With CAN-SPAM 01/11/2004 07:53 AM

Why Spammers Laugh at CAN-SPAM

Why Spammers Laugh at CAN-SPAM 01/07/2004 06:03 PM

Misunderstanding The New Spam Law And
Spammers

Misunderstanding The New Spam Law And
Spammers 12/18/2003 04:35 AM
There are plenty of reasons to think that the new CAN-SPAM law that was signed this week is terrible. We've been pointing a number of reasons why this law is likely to make things worse, not better. However, reading the following article, by someone who is apparently an "analyst" makes me wonder about the writer's analytical skills. He suggests that the law is bad, because spam is good. He says that occasionally, you get something good in the spam, and this law will stop people from getting things they might want. Except, apparently, this analyst hasn't read the law, because it actually allows spamming. The only thing it forbids is using false headers to spam. Anyway, if you wanted to know who buys from spam, apparently, it's this guy - because, occasionally, he sees something worthwhile in the spam he gets. Second, this guy claims that spammers don't want to spam people who don't want their spam, and would be happy with a smaller list of interested parties. That's been proven wrong time and time again. Spammers, these days, are making money based on the size of their lists - which they sell to others. Therefore, they do want more names. These aren't sophisticated marketers we're talking about who understand why targeted marketing makes more sense than untargeted blasting. What they do understand is that when selling their email lists or their ability to spam, the bigger numbers they can show, the more money they believe they'll make.

Spammers Pleased with 'Anti'-Spam Act

Spammers Pleased with 'Anti'-Spam Act 11/25/2003 10:22 PM

Grok Description matches for Usenix: 'Arms race' between spammers, spam filters under way
GrokA matches for Usenix: 'Arms race' between spammers, spam filters under way

Usenix: 'Arms race' between spammers, spam filters under way