Damned Viri...

[Elspode]

Am I the only one experiencing absolutely horrific 'Net and Email function because of the latest frigging virus?

I kind of liked NBN's notion in another thread. Let's catch these bastards, torture them and have them subjected to capital punishment. That ought to put a stop to this crap. Sheesh.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Haven't noticed much at home. At work however, everything is screwed up while they purge this shit.

[SteveDallas]

My first encounter with the concept of a computer virus was in 1987 or maybe 1988. From that time until last week I have received, in various forms, maybe 6 or 7 viruses sent to me personally. (I'm not counting what I cleaned off other people's computers at work.)

This week I've gotten at least 20. My mail server at work has gotten 1200 since Tuesday morniing. (They've all been caught & stripped by the virus scanner, but it's still a pain.)

[juju]

Has anyone gotten those spams that just contain random words or letters? They look like this:

cgcungypn- rnhroudl xueqctpi mymzrlg mzidvvjbv knzglbse jylauurnb
fblzgtffe yvrbuysyi avnrjis afsruucx
lqaeywor dekwxj cbqbwk ajmzn sedfio tjtyqn
bjowfcf iakrbde- ipypzggcj xrpxm kqehbzx qyjhb fuznmvppg
wfluj yxcmfngg exniqswse- nsbunreay
xlekhmg cmvlvdnul xhsjkmwaq gkeqvhjcl, pbjhvng spurhqax. aaonons ivrhhb

Or like this:

balboa systematic herald harmonious earn regalia persuasion heard admittance
client swum silk dispersal dissension santa voracity pleural
egret nrc chattanooga transfusion cemetery cesare mollycoddle duma pickaxe

What in the world is the point of these? I'm worrying that they're attempting to fool my SpamAssassin program.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I read that's exactly what they're doing.

[hot_pastrami]

Originally posted by juju
What in the world is the point of these? I'm worrying that they're attempting to fool my SpamAssassin program.

I figure these have a dual purpose... one, they confirm that the e-mail address is valid, because the message doesn't bounce back. Two, they fuck up Bayesian spam filters, which learn to link certain words to real e-mail vs. spam. Unfortunately, spammers have some very clever, unscrupulous people working for them.

Though my home network is not infected, for the past few days, my Internet connection has been slower than a sumo wrestler going up a greased pole. The ISP's servers must be getting pretty hammered by MyDoom.

[ted maddalena]

Ther is an email ebay scam going around where they ask you to reconfirm your ss# and credit card info. DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL.