spam

Microsoft founder Bill Gates said in 2004 that the problem of spam would be solved within two years. It seemed unlikely at the time, and in fact 2006 came and went without so much as a dip in the crushing load of unwanted email advertising.

Yet another court date and yet another loss in court may finally send "Spam King" to jail, but won't improve the scam-infected, spam-covered Internet he helped create.

In the late 1990s Robert Soloway made $20,000 a day as a spammer. He drove fancy cars. He wore Armani clothes. He was, by all accounts, one of the most successful spammers on the planet. But if he were starting out today, he'd find some other line of work.

My Skype line rang the other day. The caller was listed simply as “Online Help.” Curious, I picked up the line.

Most people assume victims of spear-phishing attacks and Nigerian currency scams come from low end of the IQ spectrum. They don't; unfortunately, neither do the spear-phishers.

Global spam dropped by one-third immediately after the Rustock Botnet was dismantled in mid March, according to the March edition of the Symantec MessageLabs Intelligence monthly report.

The past several months have afforded several high-profile examples of how search engine optimization, or SEO, should not be done. Last fall it was DecorMyEyes and the case of the abusive business proprietor, and just recently it was JCPenney and the case of the short-lived black hat success.

At the end of 2010, the United States remained on top of the "Dirty Dozen" list of spam relaying nations compiled by IT security firm Sophos.

After a brief period of low spam levels, top-dog spam botnet Rustock appears to be back in business

The Storm/Waldec botnet may be behind a new spam campaign that was recently launched to kick off 2011. According to researchers with Shadowserver Foundation, the campaign is designed to look like a New Year's-themed e-card. Users receive a message that says "Charley has created a New Year e-card. To view this page please click here." The user is then directed to a server that asks them to download a Flash player, which in turn installs malware onto the user's machine.

They wrecked e-mail, then they ruined search, and next spammers will go after your friends and family, tainting your social networks, writes columnist Mike Elgan.

August was the peak month for spam during 2010, says Symantec.