Spam Down, Trojans Up?
McColo was shut down last week.
If that makes no sense to you, you’re probably not alone, though you’ve probably benefited from its meaning.
Internet service providers Global Crossing and Hurricane Electric shut down San Jose-based Web host McColo after an investigation by the Washington Post.
Some large reductions in spam were reported, including a 75 percent drop worldwide, and a decrease of about 67 percent in the U.S.
Other ISPs reported spam rates dropping from 40 spam messages per second to 10 per second, according to the Washington Post.
On the surface this seems like a clear win that comes a few weeks before the holiday season – and the level of spam – really kicks into gear. However, spam already made a comeback over the weekend, and it will most likely return to its previous levels in a few days’ time.
Richard Cox, CIO of Spamhaus, warned that the spammers who worked through McColo would be working hard to rebuild their network of botnets, which could entail disseminating Trojan attacks.
In a strange way, it could actually be best if the McColo spammers are able to reclaim their already-zombified PCs.
Whatever the case, spam is not a problem that can be squashed so easily, and these kinds of “victory reports” should not get anyone’s hopes up.
Sources:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/153991/spam_drop_could_boost_
trojan_attacks.html
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/siliconalley/personal-tech/2008_11_spam_down_75_after_isps_shutdown_host.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/13/AR2008111300736.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5irfU48ftaHaxsxoi31Er0-RLXPiwD94GVDA01
