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Süddeutsche Zeitung Department: Computer
13/11/2008 12:12 clock

spam from USA
strike against garbage

If you like power pills ordered on the Internet , has to cope with a dwindling supply at present. Internet providers have shut down one of the biggest spammers.
By Mirjam Hauck

Still, scientists are divided on whether spam is a lucrative business indeed: Do the senders of unsolicited commercial e-mails more revenue than the global Drug Mafia?

afflicted users whose e-mail box overflows each day, this information does not really help. This proved to be mostly a functioning spam filters - or the rigorous crackdown by Internet providers.

As the Washington Post reports, have cut two American Internet providers on Tuesday the California Hoster McColo the lines and it thus taken from the network. then sank to the newspaper, the global spam volumes on the same evening by 66 percent.

million infected PCs

According to the findings of the IT security experts is a so-called Bullet Proof McColo Hoster. The company had therefore via so-called botnet master server. This can be controlled million infected PCs to spread spam for counterfeit drugs and designer goods. According to experts McColo was previously responsible for 75 percent of global spam volume.

The question is whether this decline will be permanent. The spammers will find, sooner or later, probably a new company for their illegal activities - be it in America, Russia or China. For these countries are the most spam attacks.

flow per day about 160 billion illegal e-mails through the Internet. Although overcome only about five percent of the spam filter e-mail provider. In fact, only one is clicked 10,000. to 100 000 E-mail.

Those users who have actually on the offers for fake pills make bait and clicked on that website now, one to three percent of the products also. An illegal online pharmaceutical shipper according to expert estimates generated by this practice about 150 million dollars in sales per year.

of the downed hosting, however, was not only specialize in spam. As the Washington Post further reported, were up to 40 websites with child pornography on the servers of McColo. They registered 15000-25000 visitors each day.

Even with a hacker attack in the Trojans by more than half a million bank- and credit card information was stolen, servers were involved in the company.

Whether the U.S. police authorities to determine McColo is, according to the Washington Post is still unclear. Neither the FBI nor the Secret Service gave an opinion as to this case. Under U.S. law, may web hosts within their network for illegal activities is not liable - except for copyright infringement and child pornography.

(sueddeutsche.de / bön)