Spammers now targeting cybercops
Spammers are trying destabilize global spam-reporting services by flooding them with automated false spam reports, according to an Australian data security specialist. According to anti-spam vendor, TotalBlock, which uses a challenge-response system, the evidence came to light when one of the company's customers was sent a spam email, which TotalBlock?s spam-blocking technique challenged. The original spammer then reported TotalBlock?s challenge to spam reporting service SpamCop as a spam email.
SpamCop is an Ironport Systems, Inc. initiative that determines the origin of unwanted email and reports it to the relevant Internet service providers.
TotalBlock CIO Ben Corby, who created the TotalBlock challenge-response solution for countering spam, said: ?We believe this is clear evidence that Spamcop is being duped by spammers, who are directly targeting the reporting system. There is little doubt that other reporting sites are being similarly hit by false spam claims.
