#1 spammer caught

Robert Alan Soloway, 27, the owner of Newport Internet Marketing Corp. of Seattle and responsible for millions of spam e-mails , is facing five counts of identity theft, mail fraud, wire fraud, fraud in connection with email, and money laundering. If convicted on all the charges, he could face up to 75 years in prison.

 IronPort Systems  reports that in the last few days the amount of spam has dropped 8%, which is equal to 6 billion messages.

The problem is that the numbers dropped from 80 billion to 74 billion!!

According to the indictment, between November 2003 and May 2007, Soloway operated Newport Internet Marketing, which offered a "broadcast e-mail" software product and services.

The government contends that these products and services constituted spam that was relayed using a network of proxy computers or botnets.

The government also said in the indictment that Soloway made a number of false and fraudulent claims about the products and services on his Web site, including a claim that the e-mail addresses used for the product and services were "opt-in" addresses. The Web site also promised a satisfaction guarantee with a full refund to customers who purchased the broadcast e-mail product. However, the indictment alleges that customers who later complained or asked for refunds were threatened with additional financial charges and referred to a collection agency.

The government also contends that Soloway spammed tens of millions of e-mail messages to advertise his Web site.

He constantly moved the Web site, which prosecutors said was hosted on at least 50 domains.

Prosecutors also said that in at least one instance Soloway used another person's credit card to pay for the domain name that hosted his Web site.

Soloway also is being accused of using the e-mail addresses and domain names of unsuspecting people to send out waves of spam, causing the victims' legitimate addresses to be blacklisted as spam sources. The government contends that Soloway refused to remove e-mail addresses from his distribution lists, leaving some victims with no choice but to close their e-mail accounts or cancel established domain names to stop the spamming. Prosecutors say he has been the subject of hundreds of complaints to the Federal Trade Commission, the Better Business Bureau, and the Washington State Attorney General's Office.

While some in the industry say fighting the spammers is a losing battle since many of them are outside of the United States and outside of the fed's reach, Alperovitch said it's a big deal for the government to arrest someone who has consistently appeared on Spamhaus' Top 10 spammers list. "If you look at the Top 10 list, several of them are from the U.S. and those who aren't frequently travel to the U.S. so you can nab them then. There's lots of ways to get these guys in orange jumpsuits. ... It's not so easy to send spam from jail."

what lurks in cyberspace...

There is an unconventional war being waged on the Internet. The battles here know no boundaries; and are fought from homes and offices from small Midwestern towns to Europe and the Middle East.

For the fighters in these battles weapons usually consist of no more than collected intelligence and computer programming skills.

It's no secret anymore that active terrorist cells are currently operating freely and openly on the Internet, using propaganda tactics to illicit prospective recruits.

The emergence of these terrorist groups has spawned their nemesis: groups of researchers, hackers, and maverick computer geeks who cyber-stalk terrorist networks online and take them down.

Aaron Weisburd, founder of Internet Haganah and director of the Society for Internet Research, is a fighter on the frontline in this new type of warfare.

Weisburd, who works out of his Carbondale, Illinois home, describes his organization as a "global non-governmental ad-hoc intelligence network" which he's modeled after al Qaeda's network.

Internet Haganah has assisted in the shutting down of hundreds of sites it says were linked to networks affiliated with groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas -- considered a terrorist organization by Britain, the U.S. and Israel -- and the insurgency in Iraq.

Weisburd recently led a panel on terror informatics and data mining at an annual conference at the Institute for Counter Terrorism in Herzliya, Israel.

Resembling a modern-day Clark Kent, Weisburd is a boyish 40-something former computer programmer who decided to use his background and skills to track terrorists following the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

He's proved himself a force to be reckoned with, fighting -- and winning -- a war waged against the "dark side" of the Internet.

To do this, Weisburd poses as a member of the Islamic Brotherhood, using what he's learned from al Qaeda's terrorist networks to glean information and then pass it on to the appropriate people -- whom he calls "associates."

These "associates", says Weisburd, may or may not necessarily be affiliated with law enforcement.

To emulate and catch the bad guys, Weisburd adopts their language and behavior, noting that it's rare to be kicked out of a terrorist community forum for being "too radical."

"If somebody reports on the latest terror attack, then the Brothers usually think that's a cool thing, so they'll respond with praise for the bombers. That would be appropriate behavior," says Weisburd.

Weisburd's reputation has earned him the nickname "the vigilante" in cyber space, a legacy he's eager to shrug off.

"If I was a vigilante running a Web site, I would hurt you," says Weisburd.

"If I find that you're running a Web site for al Qaeda, I'm not going to hurt you. I'll report you to people that will ask you to come quietly, and if you don't go quietly, they may hurt you," he says.

Gabriel Weimann, also a panelist at the ICT Counter Terrorism Conference in Herzliya, is a professor, researcher, and author of "Terror on the Internet."

Weimann says most active terrorist groups have established their presence on the Internet.

"When we started this research," says Weimann, "we had around 12 terrorist Web sites. Now we have more than 5,000 Web sites."

Weisburd and Weimann agree that these terrorist groups should not be underestimated and have proven to be Web-savvy enough to gain strength and popularity on the Internet.

"Every time you see video tape of a sniper, there's someone holding a camera there," says Weisburd.

By all accounts, the Internet remains a free and unmitigated arena where terrorists can operate with little or no regulation, censorship, or government control.

Leading international Web log hosting service BlogSpot -- owned by Google -- is currently hosting several sites for terrorist networks such as al Qaeda in Iraq, who are using the free service to post their blogs in German, English, and Arabic.

After receiving complaints about these sites, Google posted a disclaimer that reads: "Some readers of this blog have contacted Google because they believe this blog's content is hateful. In general, Google does not review nor do we endorse the content of this or any blog."

Google maintains a policy of free expression, even if some of their blogs are unpopular or deemed offensive, moving to take down a site only if there's a threat against a specific individual.

"We put up warnings in front of blogs in some instances when users have complained, and the blogs include hate speech and hateful content," says Google spokesperson Steve Langdon.

With terrorist groups growing and gaining strength on the Internet, hackers like Weisburd may have their work cut out.

Some experts argue the phenomenon of burgeoning terrorist cells online is still in its infancy. While Weisburd's work may slow them down, they claim, ultimately it won't remove them as they simply re-emerge in other domains.

Still, Weisburd vows to continue the fight, saying he feels rewarded knowing he's making a difference in the intelligence community.

Imagine that! Putting money before ethics...

The novelty is not what he did, but that the punishment is so
severe.

China Drug Regulator Gets Death Penalty 05/28/2007 -- A corruption
scandal has resulted in a death sentence for China's top drug
regulator.

State media report Zheng Xiaoyu was convicted and sentenced "on
charges of taking bribes and dereliction of duty."

The Xinhua news agency reports the official was fired in 2005 on
charges he took up to $780,000 in bribes to approve medicine that had
not been tested to ensure its safety.

State media reported that one improperly approved antibiotic killed at
least 10 patients last year before it was taken off the market.

The sentence represents the latest development stemming from growing
alarm over China's poor food-safety record.

Google marketing

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Computer specialist Didier Stevens put up a
simple text advertisement on the Internet offering downloads of a
computer virus for people who did not have one.
Surprisingly, 409 people clicked on the ad which read "Is your PC
virus-free? Get it infected here!" during a 6-month advertising
campaign on Google's Adword, said the IT security expert.
"Some of them must have clicked on it by mistake. Some must have been
curious or stupid," said Mikko Hypponen, head of research at data
security firm F-Secure.
There was no virus involved, it was an experiment aiming to show these
kind of advertising systems can be used for malicious intent, Stevens
told Reuters.

What will they think of next?!

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Computer specialist Didier Stevens put up a
simple text advertisement on the Internet offering downloads of a
computer virus for people who did not have one.
Surprisingly, 409 people clicked on the ad which read "Is your PC
virus-free? Get it infected here!" during a 6-month advertising
campaign on Google's Adwords, said the IT security expert.
"Some of them must have clicked on it by mistake. Some must have been
curious or stupid," said Mikko Hypponen, head of research at data
security firm F-Secure.
There was no virus involved, it was an experiment aiming to show these
kind of advertising systems can be used for malicious intent, Stevens
told Reuters.

PORT-FORWARDING

Symptoms
By far the most common problem encountered by first-time users of VNC
is an inability to connect to a VNC Server that is behind a firewall
or a NAT router. This problem manifests itself with one of two error
messages:
Connection refused—This means that the IP address entered into the VNC
Viewer is valid, but that nothing is listening on the port you have
specified (or 5900 if you did not explicitly specify a port number).
Connection timed out—This means that nothing responded on the IP
address entered into the VNC Viewer, not even to reject the
connection.
Solution
The most common reason for seeing either of these error messages is
that you are entering the wrong IP address. The usual way of obtaining
the IP address of your VNC Server is to hover the mouse pointer over
the system tray icon:
However, it is common for computers not to be directly connected to
the Internet, but to be behind a firewall or a NAT router. In this
case, the IP address displayed by VNC Server is a private IP address
and is only valid if you are connecting from a computer behind the
same firewall/router. From any other location, the same IP address may
correspond to a different computer, or it may not correspond to any
computer at all.
To determine whether or not the IP address displayed by VNC Server is
the one you want, visit our VNC Server test page from the computer
running VNC Server. This page will tell you the IP address of the
computer from which you are browsing and also whether or not a VNC
Server is contactable at that address.
If the IP address displayed by that web page is not the same as the
one displayed by VNC Server when you hover the mouse pointer over the
system tray icon, then you are behind a NAT router, and the IP address
on the web page is the one you should use to connect from any computer
on the other side of that router (you might want to consider running a
free dynamic DNS client if this address changes frequently or you have
difficulty remembering it). If the web page indicates that it is not
able to connect to a VNC Server at that address, then you will have to
configure port forwarding on your router.
Note that links to the no-ip and portforwarding websites are included
for convenience only. These sites are not affiliated with RealVNC Ltd.
in any way.

VNC through router

How do I use VNC through my NAT router? (AKA Why do I get Connection
timed out/Connection refused errors?)
Short answer: configure your router to forward port 5900 to the
computer running VNC.
Long answer: we have a walkthrough for this common question.

testing

Hi
This is a test of Google's mobile Blogger service.
go@blogger.com
go.blogger.com