Spam Morphs
Spammers are testing other waters, such as instant messaging and mobile phone text messaging, as well.
Judge estimates that 10 percent of instant messaging traffic is spam. "It is where e-mail traffic was several years ago," he says, adding that IM spam is likely to become even more ubiquitous as online messaging networks become interoperable (Microsoft and Yahoo, for example, have announced plans to allow their IM users to communicate with each other). The growing availability of IM services on cell phones will make instant messaging even more appealing to spammers--and vulnerable to viruses spread by spam, warns IMlogic, a messaging security firm.
Spammers have become increasingly attracted to cell phone text messaging. In fact, at least one case involving text messages has already made its way through the courts: This February, a federal court judge granted Verizon Wireless's request for an injunction barring Passport Holidays, a travel agency based in Ormond Beach, Florida, from sending unsolicited text messages to Verizon Wireless customers. In addition, Passport Holidays agreed to pay Verizon Wireless $10,000.
Verizon Wireless's lawsuit alleged that Passport sent 98,000 unsolicited messages to Verizon Wireless customers encouraging them to call a toll-free number to claim a cruise to the Bahamas.
But carriers aren't relying solely on the legal system to deal with the problem.
"We use filters and other tools to prevent spam from reaching our customers," explains Rochelle Cohen, a Cingular spokesperson.
Cingular also lets customers block incoming text messages at certain times of the day, and ban all incoming text messages that are sent via e-mail.
Wireless carriers say customers never see most spam because their spam-filtering software intercepts it. Verizon Wireless spokesperson Jeffrey Nelson says that the carrier works closely with conventional ISPs to learn the best ways to combat spam.
But while ISPs may be getting more effective at filtering traditional e-mail spam, junk e-mail marketing in general is getting ever uglier. "Filters make spamming harder, so spammers have to break the law to get a good delivery rate," acknowledges Amir Gans, the owner of New-Approach, an Israeli direct e-mail marketing company. Gans is identified by antispam nonprofit group SpamHaus as one of the top spammers--a label that Gans does not repudiate.
Cat-and-Mouse Game
But while sending spam that can bypass filters (for example, by disguising a sales pitch to look like a personal e-mail) violates the U.S. Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003, many spammers shield their identity by using hijacked PCs--often referred to as spam zombies--to send spam (see our interview with a spammer).
"Spam has grown from annoying to, in some cases, dangerous," he adds.
In 2005 more than half of the 15,000 complaints filed each month to Larkin's group related to phishing, the use of e-mail disguised to look as if it comes from a bank or other financial institution in an attempt to trick the recipients into disclosing personal information, thereby exposing them to identity theft.
A new variant of phishing, called spear phishing, involves fraudulent messages that appear to come from an individual, company, affinity group, or organization the recipient might have dealings with. The idea is that people are more likely to respond to an e-mail from the alumni association of their alma mater, for example, than to an e-mail from eBay asking them to update their billing information.
And so the spam war goes: Even as advances are made on one front, wily new tactics open up another.
Brian Sullivan, America Online's senior technical director of mail operations, is resigned to the likelihood of long-term combat. "We'll just keep our guard up so the next place it pops up, we'll be there to knock it down again."
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