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Windows/NetBIOS pop-up Spam:

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the only-a-matter-of-time dept.

bofus writes "This article from Wired News presents a new way to deliver unsolicited advertising content - the MS Windows Messenger service. It appears that the client software hasn't been widely distributed yet, but it's probably only a matter of time before a free clone is circulating. This method could become the delivery method of choice for all kinds of unsolicited junk, given the number of unsecured PCs out there. On the flip side, if you run a relatively secured machine and have some sort of firewall, this probably shouldn't concern you."

1 of 411 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Do many people even use MS messenger? by Osty · · Score: 1, Redundant

    I use trillian, and most people I know use AOL. A few use Yahoo. I've not met many people who use MS messenger. This seems like a non-issue

    Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger are completely different from the Messenger service this is exploiting. The first are IM clients, like AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, etc (Windows Messenger is the version that comes with XP and doesn't include things like checking your hotmail e-mail account. MSN Messenger is the version you can download, or can get an add-on for Windows Messenger, and has more MSN-related functions. They're the same protocol and application, otherwise). The second is the old winpopup-type stuff. Great for system alerts on a network ("Hey, the network's going down! Don't go crazy nuts when it happens!"), though my company is using Exchange Messenger for that now (which is another version of Windows/MSN Messenger, this time with support for Exchange, so you log in with your Exchange server credentials, and not a Passport -- it coexists with Windows/MSN Messenger, so you can be logged in via Exchange and Passport, and get messages in one place from either account).


    As for nobody using MSN/Windows Messenger, that's the only IM client I will use (and I've tried them all). All of my friends that I care to talk with online are on Messenger, and those that aren't can either switch, get something like Trillian, or not IM me.


    Anyway, as many others have said, you really don't ever need ports 135-139 open to the internet. Firewall those puppies from the outside world, and leave them open on your LAN for filesharing and such.