All the latest UK technology news, reviews and analysis
|
|
|
18 May 2006
Israeli security firm Blue Security has announced that it will discontinue its anti-spam service following a series of denial of service attacks that have devastated its business.
The company was hit by attacks from Russian spammer 'PharmaMaster' after Blue Security blocked the marketer's messages and sent them back to the machines from which they originated.
Blue Security had recently been awarded $4.8m in funding but its founder, Eran Reshaf, said the company did not have the resources to fight back against the spammer.
"This is something that's really got to be left to governments to decide because to fight the spammers you really need to spend $100m," Reshef told The Guardian.
"It's a dirty little secret that there is no real way to totally prevent denial of service attacks. If the attacker is prepared to put enough money in, then they can beat you every time."
Latest stories from Security
Related articles
Related jobs
Poll
What is the most important IT priority for your company this year?
Connect with V3.co.uk
This paper focuses on a series of best practices and techniques for development teams looking to improve their software development processes
Why good data management at all levels is essential in the modern business (video, 6mins)
Onsite IT Support Technician / Manager - Leek - circa...
Lead Infrastructure Engineer (Microsoft) – Hosted Services...
Hi Greetings, Job Title : Business Analyst Location...
Magento Senior Developer, London : Magento / PHP / CSS...
Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies. IThound.com brings you over 2,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.
Do you agree?
PharmaMaster should be jailed for life
This man is scum. He is to the internet what dog sh*t is to a brand new pair of shoes. Someone take him out please.
Posted by: John Smith 04 Jun 2006
Retaliate
Relax the law a little for ethical hackers and they/we can start the battle to fight back. Yes, everyone should fight back. Start complaining to the ISPs with millions of voices and make sure they hear us and not only make our money.
Posted by: Huoren 22 May 2006
Spammers
A few weeks ago, I recievced an email from someone saying that because I am a client of "Bluesecurity" - which I am not,[I am 70 yr. old and only interested in friends and family and amateur scenic photography from around the world] I would be,I would be deluged by spam. I have been getting more than a hundred per day, it has reduced to about50/60 per day probably because of the number of blocks I have put up. I am either going to have to change my e-mail address or ISP.and then face the task of informing my contacts of the change. Why do these spammers do such things?
Posted by: Wyndham Jones 18 May 2006
The Scum have won
How devastating for Blue Security and all of us. I thought we finally had a way to get rid of the trash received from the scum of the internet and it did work for a while. Unfortunately, the ISPs couldn't care less about us, only the money.
Posted by: unforgettable 18 May 2006
It's time to take action.
I am sad to see the Blue Frog disappear. I was using the service and was seeing positive results with greatly reduced spam. I have no problem with opt-in email and hope to build an active list of my own. I have also been tempted to use the services of companies that send to millions of emails since I want to provide services to help the world be a healthier place. The dilemma is if I were to follow that same practice, I would be participating in the same behavior that I find objectionable. I do not like getting massive amounts of email for porn, penis enhancers, viagra, get rich schemes and all the other junk that robs my time to remove them from my email. Maybe it is time for the heavy hitters to step to the plate and take over where Blue Security left off. The Blue Frog was obviously working. The spammers did not like getting massive amounts of opt out request that overloaded their servers. So where does this leave us? The little guys like me are pretty much at the mercy of the system. I really do not want to see the Internet taken over by governments with all the potential for abuse as different political factions fight for control with the possibilities of censorship, taxation and regulation. I would be more inclined to want a Libertarian approach where the appropriate services are provided and funded by those service providers who are profiting. I would suggest the solution lies with the people who provide the backbone of the Internet. I am not even sure who they are but I believe they probably include Cysco, MCA, Sprint, ATT and a few others. Let them set up something similar to Blue Securities no spam list, or the do not call list in the US. Follow the stream. You and I as end users have to buy Internet access from a provider or ISP. The ISP has to buy access to the backbone in the form of bandwidth. The companies providing the bandwidth ultimately control who can and cannot access the Internet. When a known user such as Russian spammer 'PharmaMaster' engages in what can only be described as cyber terrorism, the simple solution is a denial of Internet access. If the backbone providers crack down on the ISPs requiring them to be more proactive in denying service to abusers with the ?big Stick? being loss of bandwidth for failure to comply, the ISPs in turn will be more concerned with protecting their profit and more proactive in removing the known offenders. The only role I would like to see for governments is to pressure the top tier providers to take appropriate action.
Posted by: Toma Grubb 18 May 2006
how to win
track the person down doing this and take action whether legal or not to stop him spamers should be shot
Posted by: Dc sore 18 May 2006
Blue Security needed Internationel help
No one company can fight this evil, it needs international help . After all, the internet is global so all goverments can fight this together if they want to. These evel people should be jailed instead of being ignored or given a petty fine that they can afford then walk away with a big smile on thier face.
Posted by: Tony Lewry 18 May 2006
Its BS
Its really junk that ther eis no international agency to regulate this, that could arrest these hackers for what they are doing. Tracking them yes, IS difficult, but they cause millions and MILLIONS of dollars of damage (through lost sales, lost webhosting time, etc" They need to be tracked down and locked up. Blue security was doing a great thing to help out the internet, and spammers shouldn't be able to use illegal methods to stop them.
Posted by: Patrick 18 May 2006
The attack is still going on
The attack is still happening and is worse than is being reported This should be a wake up call to us all. These thugs have shown that they can and will bring the internet to its knees. They are willing to hold websites hostage and there is nothing we can do about it. Unless governments step up and do something about this, we are seeing the beginning of the end of the internet as we know it.
Posted by: Tom 18 May 2006
:(
It's a sad day for all of us.
Posted by: Blue Security user 18 May 2006
Spam attack
Sorry for Blue Security and they are right the need for international support against this sort of thing is paramount we should not be forced to give in to these purveyors of rubbish the ISPs should Pull the socket on their ability to Send /use their systems for this sort of thing
Posted by: Dreamweaver 18 May 2006