Major Spam Source Discovered

By Author: David Tanguay
Total Articles: 78
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Spam is a constantly growing problem. As more people use the Internet as a primary form of communication, inboxes around the world overflow with unwanted spam. Ferris Research revealed the worldwide cost of spam in 2007 totaled $100 billion. Everyday significant money and time is wasted processing and deleting junk emails.

Besides being a time-consuming nuisance, spam exposes users to unwanted content such as solicitations and pornography. You can even be exposed to harmful computer viruses through spam emails. These persistent emails know no boundaries and children are subjected to questionable content everyday. For these reasons, the web hosting industry is actively seeking ways to eliminate spammers.

According to the Washington Post, on Monday security experts discovered a company responsible for facilitating a 75 percent of the spam email sent worldwide. Security Fix found McColo Corp., a web hosting service in San Jose, California, had a client list filled with highly disreputable cyber criminals. After monitoring their activities for over four months, they discovered their shenanigans.

Two companies ...
... were major Internet providers for McColo Corp. - Global Crossing and Hurricane Electric. Washington Post had not received word from Global Crossing. However, Benny Ng, marketing director at Hurricane Electric, stated, We shut them down. We looked into it a bit, saw the size and scope of the problem you were reporting and said 'Holy cow!' Within the hour, we had terminated all of our connections to them.

The McColo web site was no longer available at the time the Washington Post article was released. Officials from McColo did not responding to messages left before all their email addresses were shut down.

While finding companies such as McColo will certainly help to eliminate spam, it doesn't end this annoying problem. Internet users need to have reliable spam and virus protection to avoid criminal activities initiated by spammers. Identity theft and phishing can cause serious problems for Internet users.

A spam filter at the DNS level keeps unwanted communications at bay. Using a spam filter can field 99.6 percent of these treacherous emails. Users have access to the spam filter's web-based interface to configure settings and manage quarantined junk mail so they have total control over the correspondence they receive.

Businesses gain time and profits by spam filtering. Individuals are no longer vulnerable to online email attacks with spam filters. Everyone needs to take action to get rid of these scamming spammers for a more enjoyable, efficient online communication experience.
David Tanguay is the owner of Interactive Online who provides Affordable Hosting and Budget Hosting services.