How Can So Much Junk E-mail Come From One Place?

How Can So Much Spam Come From One Place?


By Brian Krebs
Tuesday, November 18, 2008; 9:18 AM


At roughly 4:30 p.m. Eastern time last Tuesday, the volume of junk e-mail arriving at inboxes around the world suddenly plummeted by at least 65 percent, an unprecedented drop caused by what is believed to be a single, simple act.

According to security experts, one Silicon Valley based computer firm was playing host to computers of various organizations that controlled the distribution of much of the world's spam. Confronted with evidence tracing the spam activity back to the hosting firm, McColo Corp., Internet service providers pulled the plug, severing McColo's online connections.

By nearly all accounts, spam volumes have remained at far diminished levels, though experts interviewed for this story expect spam to soon bounce back or even exceed previous levels. But the question remains: How could such a massive concentration of spam activity be hosted for so long from the servers at a single U.S.-based facility, in the belly of the security and tech community in Silicon Valley?

The answer exemplifies how complex the battle against spam has become. Like other Internet hosting firms, McColo -- which has not been charged with any crime and has been unavailable for comment -- assigns certain Internet addresses for its clients' computers to use. In effect, that's how those firms operate on the Web.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/18/AR2008111801120.html?nav=rss_email/components

answers the question, "How can these jerks stay in business if no one I know has ever admitted to buying their stuff?"



Now we just need to find that one in twelve million people and make them stop!