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Spammers Exploiting Hotmail Vulnerability

chip rosenthal writes "Notice more Hotmail spam in your inbox recently? There is a good reason for that. In March, spammers discovered a new vulnerability in the Hotmail service that allows them to script their spam sending. So far I've seen a 2200% increase in Hotmail spam as a result. We're now at three months and counting, and the problem only seems to be getting worse."

24 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. can this be? by McAddress · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is it really possible to get even more spam using hotmail?

    1. Re:can this be? by Gleng · · Score: 5, Funny

      The headline would've worked just as well as:

      "Your Rights Online: Hotmail Being Exploited by Spammers"

      I suppose MS must be employing their new ActiveSpamXP.NET technology. Built on the proven reliability of ActiveSpam 6.0, it will make our spam receiving experience faster and more reliable.

      --
      "Proudly Posting Without Reading The Article"
  2. Oh I get it. by blair1q · · Score: 4, Funny

    You expect Microsoft to be ahead of the spammers.

    1. Re:Oh I get it. by ciroknight · · Score: 3, Funny

      You'de expect Microsoft to be the head of spammers.

      --
      "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
    2. Re:Oh I get it. by Adam9 · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, Microsoft is behind the spammers.

    3. Re:Oh I get it. by seney · · Score: 3, Funny

      You'd expect Microsoft to be giving head to the spammers.

  3. Hotmail useless by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    I had a hotmail account once, but the spam level got so high that I abandoned it. It was about 10 times heavier than say Yahoo mail. But now Yahoo is spamming up also, I cannot even imagine 10 times that amount. I think that harddrive makers are in kahootz with spammers.

  4. Wow.. by Realistic_Dragon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Another function added at the expense of security and usability.

    I get the distinct feeling that if Microsoft organised a piss up in a brewery there would be sausages, crisps, plenty of seating, a cool entertainment system, probably even a stripper... ...and a distinct lack of beer.

    --
    Beep beep.
  5. Re:Three month old news by mrklin · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hi. Welcome to Slashdot. You must be new here?

  6. I thought this was news for nerds? by thogard · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why would a nerd ever use hotmail? Don't they all have their own domains?

    1. Re:I thought this was news for nerds? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      ...and your average reader might be the average intelligent citizen from the USA? Right...

  7. Re:FreeBSD by 1029 · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's the software they're running that matters here. Your comment is like saying a blind guy would drive better in a Dodge Dakota than a Toyota Tacoma.

    That is so utterly ridiculous. Everyone knows blind people should drive Geo Metros. That way even when they do hit a pedestrian it won't do anything but cause the car to implode.

    --
    - I love animals. I try to eat at least one a day.
  8. Re: Spammers cutting and pasting??? by Black+Parrot · · Score: 5, Funny


    > The bulk of it is 419 spam, which is reported to be largely done by hand by itinerant Nigerians.

    Itinerants? I only get it from ambasadors, generals, and other important public officials.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  9. hotmail... more porn for free by AUX2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ugh...
    Hotmail supplies me with the following things:
    Slashdot Updates
    Porn

    Oh yeah, and I occasionally get asked if my privates are O.K.

    Check.
    ------
    The movie of the summer

    --
    ***Insert Witty Phrase Here***
  10. Re:DAV as an integration method for outlook? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    OMG, MY MOM IS A HAXOR!!!

    FROM HER LATEST EMAIL TO ME:

    Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC;
    Fri, 6 Jun 2003 16:51:54 -0700
    Received: from 62.241.8.122 by bay1-dav113.bay2.hotmail.com with DAV;
    Fri, 06 Jun 2003 23:51:54 +0000

    even though it didn't mention my penis size, I'm sure she's a spammer!!!!

    OK, back to reality. It looks like this DAV thing isn't just spammers. UNLESS MY MOM IS A SPAMMER!! OMG!! :)

    I'm glad I checked a few sources before putting in a postfix body check for this "vulnerability." Most outlook email via hotmail has this DAV signature.

  11. Casaredmond by Dirtside · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ballmer: "I'm shocked--shocked!--to find that spamming is going on here."
    Allchin: "The latest donation from the spammers, sir."
    Ballmer: (sotto voce) "Oh, thank you very much." (to customers) "Get out! Everyone out at once!"

    --
    "Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
  12. I only use hotmail for online ordering by p51d007 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I've had my hotmail account for YEARS. I also have my regular DSL account, which NO ONE but those on my outlook adress book have. Why do I have hotmail? For online ordering, web site downloads etc. This way, ALL my junk mail goes into the hotmail account. I then use mail washer to filter out what hotmail can't (which is a bunch). I check it when I get home, dump the junk, then before I hit the sack. What a great service that Microsoft provides for us! Keeping the junk out of our "regular" inboxes, freeing up their servers, and clogging the MS ones ;) THANKS MICROSOFT

  13. Re:No Biggie by eMartin · · Score: 4, Funny

    I also get no spam in my main hotmail account other than the occasional (monthly?) message from the hotmail system itself.

    I did once set up an account at sendmesomejunk@hotmail.com, and the box was filled in less than a week, mostly with stuff addressed to a single person, so I think it's possible that many people get spam because they picked an address that was already in use in the past, but abandoned.

    On a mostly unrelated note, I once had an address that was me@myisp.net, and got tons of mail from people at my ISP that were trying to send stuff to themselves.

  14. Imperial units? by Charles+Dodgeson · · Score: 5, Funny
    From the article
    ...programatically generate a metric buttload of spam.
    Anyone know what a metric buttload is in English/Imperial units? For some odd reason units(1) wasn't able to convert for me.

    Since US butts are, on the whole, larger than in the rest of the world, I can guess that a metric buttload is larger than a US buttload.

    --
    Prime numbers are exactly what Alan Greenspan says they are -S. Minsky
    1. Re:Imperial units? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      A U.S. butt load is 2.204622622 metric

  15. IN SOVIET RUSSIA by Eric+Destiny · · Score: 2, Funny

    in soviet russia, spam hotmails you!

    br>br>br>br>br>

    --

    "The meek shall inherit the earth, the rest of us shall go to the stars." Isaac Asimov

  16. Re:No Biggie by Smidge204 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I feel really bad for bob@aol.com

    =Smidge=

  17. Re:Blame the original Hotmail owners. by GMontag · · Score: 4, Funny

    crack team of MCSEs (if such a thing exists :-)

    Of course they exist!

    MCSEs only use the finest crack.

  18. Re:I just realized something..... by Inthewire · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ah fuckit...the posts I was gonna mod in this thread weren't anything special.

    My favorite sig wrt the slashdot motto is News that matters for people who don't

    --


    Writers imply. Readers infer.