Heavy Spam Attack

You might contact your ISP and see if you can make a change to your address and
then use a spam blocker with the new one.


--
"In this universe the night was falling,the shadows were lengthening
towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the stars were still young and the light of morning
lingered: and along the path he once had followed, man would one day go
again."

Arthur C. Clarke, The City & The Stars

SIAR
www.starlords.org
Freelance Writers Shop
http://www.freelancewrittersshop.netfirms.com
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord

"Joseph" wrote in message
.. .
Does this mean if you have already posted - it's too late. Since your
address will already
be on the news group?
The mailwasher program does it have to be run by the ISP or can I do it
locally - because
I have been getting mail from ISP saying my email quota has been exceeded.

Thanks
Joseph
"Jonathan Silverlight" wrote
in message news
In message , John Ferman
writes
I have in the past two weeks accessed all of the astronomy newsgroups
and have posted to several. I am getting a very heavy load of spams
and I have reason to think the spammers have been harvesting newsgroups
email addresses. People that I know to never visit newsgroups are not
affected. Has anyone on the astronomy newsgroups been affected?

It's not just astronomy groups but all newsgroups, AFAICS. I'm using
Mailwasher to fend off about 1000 per day.
Rather too late, I'm hiding my address and hope you are doing the same.
--
"Forty millions of miles it was from us, more than forty millions of miles
of
void"
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.516 / Virus Database: 313 - Release Date: 9/1/03

Actually I'm being hit by the virus emails - hopefully they will shut this
off these system soon. Then
will worry about the spam. Would like to keep the current email address.
Thanks for your suggestions.
Joseph
"Starlord" wrote in message
...
You might contact your ISP and see if you can make a change to your
address and
then use a spam blocker with the new one.


--
"In this universe the night was falling,the shadows were lengthening
towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the stars were still young and the light of morning
lingered: and along the path he once had followed, man would one day go
again."

Arthur C. Clarke, The City & The Stars

SIAR
www.starlords.org
Freelance Writers Shop
http://www.freelancewrittersshop.netfirms.com
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord

"Joseph" wrote in message
.. .
Does this mean if you have already posted - it's too late. Since your
address will already
be on the news group?
The mailwasher program does it have to be run by the ISP or can I do it
locally - because
I have been getting mail from ISP saying my email quota has been
exceeded.

Thanks
Joseph
"Jonathan Silverlight"
wrote
in message news
In message , John Ferman
writes
I have in the past two weeks accessed all of the astronomy newsgroups
and have posted to several. I am getting a very heavy load of spams
and I have reason to think the spammers have been harvesting
newsgroups
email addresses. People that I know to never visit newsgroups are
not
affected. Has anyone on the astronomy newsgroups been affected?

It's not just astronomy groups but all newsgroups, AFAICS. I'm using
Mailwasher to fend off about 1000 per day.
Rather too late, I'm hiding my address and hope you are doing the
same.
--
"Forty millions of miles it was from us, more than forty millions of
miles
of
void"
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.516 / Virus Database: 313 - Release Date: 9/1/03

Actually I'm being hit by the virus emails - hopefully they will shut this
off these system soon. Then
will worry about the spam. Would like to keep the current email address.
Thanks for your suggestions.
Joseph
"Starlord" wrote in message
...
You might contact your ISP and see if you can make a change to your
address and
then use a spam blocker with the new one.


--
"In this universe the night was falling,the shadows were lengthening
towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the stars were still young and the light of morning
lingered: and along the path he once had followed, man would one day go
again."

Arthur C. Clarke, The City & The Stars

SIAR
www.starlords.org
Freelance Writers Shop
http://www.freelancewrittersshop.netfirms.com
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord

"Joseph" wrote in message
.. .
Does this mean if you have already posted - it's too late. Since your
address will already
be on the news group?
The mailwasher program does it have to be run by the ISP or can I do it
locally - because
I have been getting mail from ISP saying my email quota has been
exceeded.

Thanks
Joseph
"Jonathan Silverlight"
wrote
in message news
In message , John Ferman
writes
I have in the past two weeks accessed all of the astronomy newsgroups
and have posted to several. I am getting a very heavy load of spams
and I have reason to think the spammers have been harvesting
newsgroups
email addresses. People that I know to never visit newsgroups are
not
affected. Has anyone on the astronomy newsgroups been affected?

It's not just astronomy groups but all newsgroups, AFAICS. I'm using
Mailwasher to fend off about 1000 per day.
Rather too late, I'm hiding my address and hope you are doing the
same.
--
"Forty millions of miles it was from us, more than forty millions of
miles
of
void"
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.516 / Virus Database: 313 - Release Date: 9/1/03

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 03:44:25 GMT, John Ferman
wrote:

I have in the past two weeks accessed all of the astronomy newsgroups
and have posted to several. I am getting a very heavy load of spams
and I have reason to think the spammers have been harvesting newsgroups
email addresses. People that I know to never visit newsgroups are not
affected. Has anyone on the astronomy newsgroups been affected?

I seriously doubt you are seeing spam in the usual sense.
If it is what most are seeing lately. There are *several* viruses
going around.

People are not taking precautions (don't use a virus checker, open
attachments, no fire wall, use HTML for e-mail and news groups)
Using HTML for mail and newsgroups is an extremely dangerous practice.
(If no one was using HTML readers this virus would have gone no where)
It pretty much opens your machine to the whole wide world.
And...for GAWD's sake, turn off the "automatically add recipient to
address book" when you send e-mail.


In general, contrary to some beliefs there is most likely, no
harvesting going on, although with viruses you can never be sure. The
one is reporting back to a site to keep track of now many computers it
has infected. This past week end it passed 1.5 million.

When a computer is infected the virus sends e-mail to all addresses
listed in the address book. It also takes one of the addresses and
uses it as the source instead of the address of the actual computer.

This is where I have a problem with the ISPs filtering. They, in
general just send the user a message telling you some one (address
included) sent you a virus, but they don't include the headers. You
need to use the IP, not the return address.

When you start receiving mail telling you the e-mail you sent could
not be delivered and you don't recognize the address, it's most likely
you were given the honor of being the viruses's choice for the "send
by" culprit.

The virus is very wide spread and is mostly on home computers, at
least so far. Businesses and industry are getting smart. The average
home user is not. He, or she gets an e-mail from MS that tells them
to install a patch and they just go ahead and do it. MS and most
companies do not work this way, but users just keep on doing it to
them selves.

The real scoop on the virus is at Symantec's site...

and the MS site
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tre...n/MS01-020.asp
that will tell the user all they need to know.

One thing you should notice is the virus requires HTML, but users just
won't give up using HTML and go to text based mail and newsgroup
readers. Even the later versions of Outlook and outlook express can
do this (turn off HTML and read in text only).
The virus is relatively benign so the virus companies (plural), didn't
take much notice, but due to the gullibility of the average user it
has become so wide spread they have raised the threat level to a
three. Many users are receiving over a thousand messages a day.

Although the virus takes advantage of a hole in IE (yah, another one),
it couldn't do a thing if people practice safe computing.

I activated a new e-mail address for posting last night. Within five
minutes I was receiving bounce notices and viruses from infected
computers..
Apparently some one with an infected computer had tried to send me an
e-mail and it added me to their address book which sent out a bunch of
messages which got me added to address books in other infected
computers.

When I was in grad school I taught intro to computer science classes
as a graduate assistant. Those were college kids who should be a step
up from the rest of the world. If they were a step up when it came
to computers, all I can say is "be afraid, be very afraid"....

Roger Halstead (K8RI EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
www.rogerhalstead.com
N833R World's oldest Debonair? (S# CD-2)

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 03:44:25 GMT, John Ferman
wrote:

I have in the past two weeks accessed all of the astronomy newsgroups
and have posted to several. I am getting a very heavy load of spams
and I have reason to think the spammers have been harvesting newsgroups
email addresses. People that I know to never visit newsgroups are not
affected. Has anyone on the astronomy newsgroups been affected?

I seriously doubt you are seeing spam in the usual sense.
If it is what most are seeing lately. There are *several* viruses
going around.

People are not taking precautions (don't use a virus checker, open
attachments, no fire wall, use HTML for e-mail and news groups)
Using HTML for mail and newsgroups is an extremely dangerous practice.
(If no one was using HTML readers this virus would have gone no where)
It pretty much opens your machine to the whole wide world.
And...for GAWD's sake, turn off the "automatically add recipient to
address book" when you send e-mail.


In general, contrary to some beliefs there is most likely, no
harvesting going on, although with viruses you can never be sure. The
one is reporting back to a site to keep track of now many computers it
has infected. This past week end it passed 1.5 million.

When a computer is infected the virus sends e-mail to all addresses
listed in the address book. It also takes one of the addresses and
uses it as the source instead of the address of the actual computer.

This is where I have a problem with the ISPs filtering. They, in
general just send the user a message telling you some one (address
included) sent you a virus, but they don't include the headers. You
need to use the IP, not the return address.

When you start receiving mail telling you the e-mail you sent could
not be delivered and you don't recognize the address, it's most likely
you were given the honor of being the viruses's choice for the "send
by" culprit.

The virus is very wide spread and is mostly on home computers, at
least so far. Businesses and industry are getting smart. The average
home user is not. He, or she gets an e-mail from MS that tells them
to install a patch and they just go ahead and do it. MS and most
companies do not work this way, but users just keep on doing it to
them selves.

The real scoop on the virus is at Symantec's site...

and the MS site
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tre...n/MS01-020.asp
that will tell the user all they need to know.

One thing you should notice is the virus requires HTML, but users just
won't give up using HTML and go to text based mail and newsgroup
readers. Even the later versions of Outlook and outlook express can
do this (turn off HTML and read in text only).
The virus is relatively benign so the virus companies (plural), didn't
take much notice, but due to the gullibility of the average user it
has become so wide spread they have raised the threat level to a
three. Many users are receiving over a thousand messages a day.

Although the virus takes advantage of a hole in IE (yah, another one),
it couldn't do a thing if people practice safe computing.

I activated a new e-mail address for posting last night. Within five
minutes I was receiving bounce notices and viruses from infected
computers..
Apparently some one with an infected computer had tried to send me an
e-mail and it added me to their address book which sent out a bunch of
messages which got me added to address books in other infected
computers.

When I was in grad school I taught intro to computer science classes
as a graduate assistant. Those were college kids who should be a step
up from the rest of the world. If they were a step up when it came
to computers, all I can say is "be afraid, be very afraid"....

Roger Halstead (K8RI EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
www.rogerhalstead.com
N833R World's oldest Debonair? (S# CD-2)

"John Ferman" wrote in message
...
I have in the past two weeks accessed all of the astronomy newsgroups
and have posted to several. I am getting a very heavy load of spams
and I have reason to think the spammers have been harvesting newsgroups
email addresses. People that I know to never visit newsgroups are not
affected. Has anyone on the astronomy newsgroups been affected?


Not me.

Try posting to alt.spam, the regulars there have some good info on how to
avoid spam.

Regards,
Todd

"John Ferman" wrote in message
...
I have in the past two weeks accessed all of the astronomy newsgroups
and have posted to several. I am getting a very heavy load of spams
and I have reason to think the spammers have been harvesting newsgroups
email addresses. People that I know to never visit newsgroups are not
affected. Has anyone on the astronomy newsgroups been affected?


Not me.

Try posting to alt.spam, the regulars there have some good info on how to
avoid spam.

Regards,
Todd

On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 16:39:26 GMT, Roger Halstead
wrote:

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 03:44:25 GMT, John Ferman
wrote:
....

This is where I have a problem with the ISPs filtering. They, in
general just send the user a message telling you some one (address
included) sent you a virus, but they don't include the headers. You
need to use the IP, not the return address.

This is not reliable either. Microsoft left a hole in their IP
stack that allows spoofing of source IP addresses too. There is
a good article at the Gibson Research site about this - it is
called a reflected DOS attack.

TK
....

Roger Halstead (K8RI EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
www.rogerhalstead.com
N833R World's oldest Debonair? (S# CD-2)

On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 16:39:26 GMT, Roger Halstead
wrote:

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 03:44:25 GMT, John Ferman
wrote:
....

This is where I have a problem with the ISPs filtering. They, in
general just send the user a message telling you some one (address
included) sent you a virus, but they don't include the headers. You
need to use the IP, not the return address.

This is not reliable either. Microsoft left a hole in their IP
stack that allows spoofing of source IP addresses too. There is
a good article at the Gibson Research site about this - it is
called a reflected DOS attack.

TK
....

Roger Halstead (K8RI EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
www.rogerhalstead.com
N833R World's oldest Debonair? (S# CD-2)

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 22:25:29 -0700, "Starlord"
wrote:

There are always spammers looking for new e-mail address from the posters here,
they have software that auto collects all such from here. That's why you either
have to use a spam block, a fake return address, or like I do,


Won't putting REMOVE in your return e-mail, such as"

help? I've noticed that many people put
such things in their e-mails and hope that those who do reply are
smart enough to do just that--REMOVE "remove".

Your two-cents?
Mark Ferrante








a service (free)
that filters out the spam.