Internet Defense Technology

Hello any readers from http://www.obzokee.com/ (if you came from somewhere else, there was an interview done of me there).

I would love it if you took a few minutes to find out about Internet Defense Technology services. Please visit our homepage www.internetdefensetechnologies.com and our Email Spam Filter Product Page.

Would also love it if you would subscribe to my RSS feed.

I try to keep this blog fun and entertaining even though it is about a somewhat boring subject. I also like to keep you alerted and in the know about any dangers lurking around. So my blog would be useful for keeping on top of any dangers when surfing on the Internet or reading your email.

Let me know if there is anything in particular you need or would like to have written about here in the blog. You can follow me on twitter at Romie or check out my LinkedIn profile here.

See you around.

Seems there are some changes to the CAN-SPAM act recently, all approved by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Below is the quote straight from the FTC website, but the most interesting part to me is #1. Effectively saying that all emails must allow you to unsubscribe in one of two ways:

a) Send a reply with remove request
b) One click to a single page to opt-out

This means you can’t send me on a wild goose chase through you site for the opt-out link. This means you can’t ask me for anymore information than my email address to “confirm” my opt-out.

Just wish the illegal guys could somehow be forced to do this. Unfortunately what I have seen as true for most laws, only law abiding people pay any attention.

Quote from FTC:

“The new rule provisions address four topics:
(1) an e-mail recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her e-mail address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply e-mail message or visiting a single Internet Web page to opt out of receiving future e-mail from a sender;
(2) the definition of “sender” was modified to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single e-mail message is responsible for complying with the Act’s opt-out requirements;
(3) a “sender” of commercial e-mail can include an accurately-registered post office box or private mailbox established under United States Postal Service regulations to satisfy the Act’s requirement that a commercial e-mail display a “valid physical postal address”; and
(4) a definition of the term “person” was added to clarify that CAN-SPAM’s obligations are not limited to natural persons.”

FTC article on new CAN-SPAM rules

Be careful about any emails you might get asking for your information. To be safe, always go to the site directly to check.

For example, a new one going around from PayPal:

Dear PayPal® customer,

We recently reviewed your account, and we suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account.

Protecting your account is our primary concern. As a preventive measure we have temporary limited your access to sensitive information.

Paypal features.

To ensure that your account is not compromised, simply hit ”Resolution Center” to confirm your identity as member of Paypal. Login to your Paypal with your Paypal username and password.

Confirm your identity as a card member of Paypal.

Please confirm account information by clicking here Resolution Center and complete the “Steps to Remove Limitations.”

*Please do not reply to this message. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.

Copyright (c) 1999-2008 PayPal. All rights reserved.

Subject lines and the “from” for a bunch of email spam and hoaxes (don’t get caught) that made it through my “hotmail spam filter”:

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Saves 70c Per Gallon On-Gas
From: Gas Secrets (noreply@fierybasket.net)

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Increase your salary with an online college degree
From: OnlineDegrees@amppromotion.com

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Rebate Processor Position - Easy Work - Great Pay
From: Rebate Processor (RebateProcessor@monocytic.com)

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Re: Search Results - Visa Card for you!
From: NewCreditEra@baseresponse.com

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Confirm receipt of $10,000 Scholarship Offer KHH-6875540
From: SchoolRewards (school@jhdskjd.com)

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250K for your Business as little as 36 Hours
From: Need Capital? (noreply@noisytired.net)

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Approval Finder
From: Approval Finder (ApprovalFinder@invirtualbusiness.com)

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StudentFinancialAid
From: OnlineStudentFinancialAid@eserviceagency.com

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RobertG.Allen
From: RobertG.Allen@whitefishes.com

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Save 70cents/gallon on gas
From: Gas Secrets (noreply@comfortstature.net)

Been seeing a few articles recently about a new scam going around.

For anyone who runs a Google Adwords campaign, be warned about getting an email saying your payment hasn’t been successful.

If you get one, make sure you don’t click on the link. While the link looks correct when you click on it, it will send you to something like hxxp://www.adwords.google.com.fke21.cn/. As you can see, if you look at the end of the address, is definitely not Google.

Go ahead and check your account, but typing the address into your web browser yourself. Then you won’t get scammed (phished) our of your account information and credit card information.

Hopefully you have a good email spam filtering service (insert our marketing plug here) like ours (smile) and won’t ever see one of these.

Other articles:
Trendlabs
MX Logic
Marketing Pilgrim

In case you missed it, Zango is sueing anti-spyware company Kaspersky Lab alleging that the company interfered with Zango’s business relationships with consumers by removing Zango adware from people’s computers.

Now people get Kaspersky product specifically for the purpose of removing adware and spyware, which serves consumers pop-up ads based on their Web-surfing activity.

If Zango were to win this suit (I don’t think they have a change, but I am not a lawyer) what does this mean for companies who specifically serve people by blocking content that is most likely harmful to them.

Being in the email spam business, I will tell you, there is no way to be 100% perfect at it, we can get pretty darn close, but not 100% perfect 100% of the time.

I am scared of the ramifications of this and hope the courts realize that it is the job of Zango to make a product that doesn’t alert the programs to possible bad behaviour.

While companies that detect and block spam, spyware, adware and more work hard to get it right (we will lose customers otherwise) both sides need to work together, not sue each other.

Original Article on Mediapost

There is a new trick that spammers have up their sleeve called “backscattered” (already has a name, amazing).

It looks like a bounceback for an email you sent out, except you didn’t send it out. The email address that is bouncing is probably one you haven’t heard of. Further the subject line will be something you definitely didn’t write (with scary spam subjects we all know and love) and it can be very confusing to be getting these.

Most likely you will only receive a few an hour, but after a day or two, this ads up.

The important note in this is, you may not have been hacked. To legitimize spam messages, spammers have started finding real email addresses published on the Internet and putting them in their from line. So when the email bounce, the bounces are going to come to you.

This isn’t too widely prevalent yet, but the occurrence of it has increased.

Here are some ways to avoid this:
* When putting your email address on your website, write it out: user (a) provider (dot) com or something similar
* Put a form up on the site instead of an email address.

More information can be found here:
Article on Computerworld

I hate these types of services, I am a real person and find this annoying:

“This is an automatic confirmation request from <***@******.com>;.

“In an effort to fight spam, I have asked my email host, Big Giant Media, Inc., to install a spam filter on my mailbox. To prove that you are a real person and not an automated spammer, please visit the following URL and enter the code you see displayed on the Big Giant Media authentication page:

“http://******

“HINT: If you cannot reach the page by clicking on the link above, please copy and paste it directly into your browser’s address bar.

“You will only need to do this the first time you send an email to my address. Once you have confirmed your status, you will be added to a list of approved senders and will not be required to complete this step again.

“Thanks for helping me stamp out spam!”

Why not just get a system like Internet Defense Technology which can find the spam on it’s own instead of annoying your friends and people who try to email you?

Original article on IDT Blog about email spam

It is a good idea to have images turned off when first opening an email. A lot of spammers put the majority of their message in an image (so then the spam filters can’t read it).

Spammers can also use this image to tell if the email address they sent it to is real or not. They often set it up so that when you go to get the image, they can tell which email address that is and now know to keep the address because it has a live person on it.

Following are examples of emails I got on my hotmail box (all of which are spam and hoaxes) where the majority of the message was in an image:

Note: Some of these say they are from Sears, but notice the email address it is being sent from is definitely not a Sears company

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Subject: Regarding your Trip to CostaRica‏
From: Hilary P.Stevens (retireOrvacation@realitytvfame.com)

Your TripTo Costa Rica, Click Here

[Big huge image here]

This message contains no_harmful content

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Subject: Save 70cents/gallon on gas
From: Gas Secrets (noreply@ingredientfreezone.net)

Save 70cents/gallon on gas

[Big huge image here]

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Subject: Hiring: Rebate Processors Needed‏
From: Work from Home: Great Pay (noreply@swellsubdivide.net)

Hiring: Rebate Processors Needed

[Big huge image here]

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Subject: Life Insurance from Prudential Life™‏
From: A Prudential Financial Company (noreply@proceedingdraft.net)

Life Insurance from Prudential Life™

[Big huge image here]

Note: I had several of these in my hotmail email box

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Sears™ Cabinet Refacing & Kitchen Remodeling‏
From: Free Estimate (noreply@knowledgedisplace.net)

Sears™ Cabinet Refacing & Kitchen Remodeling

[Big huge image here]

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Subject: Sears™ Kitchen Makeover, Free In-home Estimate‏
From: Kitchen Makeovers (noreply@teachingconquest.net)

Sears™ Kitchen Makeover, Free In-home Estimate

[Big huge image here]

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Earn your healthcare degree fast, completely online!‏
From: Healthcare Colleges (HealthcareColleges@wheyish.com)

[Big huge image here]

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Top 5 Online Colleges‏
From: Top 5 Online Colleges (Top5OnlineColleges@devotemedia.com)

[Big huge image here]

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Other blogs with spam email they got:
http://betterbeben.blogspot.com/2008/04/alright-man-another-email-spam.html

If you did a blog post about email spam please include it in the comments

Original article on IDT Blog about email spam