Lycos Anti-Spam Site Compromised [Updated]

An anonymous reader writes "Lycos, shortly after producing a screen saver to fight spammers using a DoS-style attack appears to have been hacked. Attempting to download the screen saver from lycos results in this message 'Yes, attacking spammers is wrong, you know this, you shouldn't be doing it. Your ip address and request have been logged and will be reported to your ISP for further action.' Or maybe it's just a joke -- can you ever tell?" Update: 12/01 15:07 GMT by T : According to Lycos, the defacement reports were actually just a hoax.

Comments

Ridiculous

[bool morpheus()]

They wouldn't let phone telemarketers threaten you into buying whatever product. Aww, let's all feel sorry for the poor spammers. Boo hoo hoo.

But ... they were "ready"

[Joosy]

Clearly it must be a joke, since a Lycos rep is quoted as saying: "There's a risk we will receive some denial of service attacks in the next few days but we are ready."

obligatory

[Neo-Rio-101]

Lycos, shortly after producing a screen saver to fight spammers using a DoS-style attack appears to have been hacked. ....and now totally slashdotted off the map to boot.

Re:obligatory

[TheOtherAgentM]

That's how to combat spam. Just /. the servers.

lol, bring it on

[Mia'cova]

Report me? haha. Knowing my ISP, they'd probably increase my bandwidth.

I hope the guys who attacked Lycos are getting hit hard by their service. Keep it up Lycos! You're obviously hitting a nerve.

Re:Attack!

[FREELZEE]

WTF... i can't tell if it's slashdot attacking these links or the spammers screwing them up. i guess we'll never know

Re:Simple Way To Counter Lycos Threat

[Streyeder]

So, what happens when Lycos points their DNS servers right back at them? Maybe it would create a cyber time-space vortex that would suck websites back into the past? ;) An internet wormhole of sorts... Ok, time to turn off DS9 and get back to hw...

Re:Stupidest idea ever.

[flyingsquid]

I agree. We should not be going after spammers with internet attacks.

We should be going after them as angry mobs armed with pitchforks and torches.

Re:Now we need a virus...

[krymsin01]

You know what, I'm sick of pirates. Actual sea pirates. I think we should ship all ocean water in the sea to Mars. Oh wait...

Blasphemy!

[Sindri]

Every one knows Geeks are the good guys!

Re:No surprise

[Bigbutt]

Exactly. Check this out, it's a job request posted to Guru.com:

I am looking for a dedicated server provider that will host my business domains and provide POP3 emails for each domain.

I might be open to a relationship where you do not provider the actual server, but you know of a reliable server provider and want to be my technical support person for the server and you will help me reach my hosting and email marketing goals. To be my technical support person you must already have a relationship with a reputable server provider who can help me achieve the goals I have set.

My goal is to send out a minimum of 10 million emails a day using the server I rent from you, so I also need the server and software that will allow me to set up email sampaigns to promote and sell educational and consulting business services to more than 10 million email addresses per day without the limitation of bandwidth or the ISP hassle of being shut down.

My last server provider's server crashed every other day and I was unable to get my email marketing campaign off the ground, so reputation, reliability, and stability are important to me.

I will need technical assistance to help set up all the web sites and help with POP3 email setup for each web site, as well as assistance with the email marketing software. I have purchased the @engine email software from BulkISP but have yet to test it at its capacity on a server that works. The limitation of this software is that you are only allowed to use one message per campaign, but I am interested in sending out alternating messages per campaign if possible. Please recommend an email marketing software if you know one.

I need you to provide me a server and need the server provider with the ability to do the following:

1. Provide customer references that I can speak with
2. Setup within 48 hours
3. 24/7 customer support and live technical support
4. Windows 2000 server that supports Linux
5. Unlimited bandwidth
6. Unlimited email accounts
7. PHP, ASP, CGI
8. SSL/SSI
9. DNS hosting with the ability to host 10-15 different web sites
10. Sites that won't be shut down
11. Ability to send out unlimited emails of at least 10 million or more emails a day
12. Ability to set up email addresses for each site, including catch-all emails
13. FTP ability to each web site directly
14. Email software that will give me the ability to do the following:
a. Can send out unlimited emails of at least 10 million emails per day
b. Generate alternate messages for each campaign
c. Alternate Subject matter
d. Send to 1 recipient at a time
e. Alternate "From" message
f. Get around port 25
g. Wash emails
h. Give email mailing reports
15. Remote access to server from anywhere using Terminal Services, VNC, or PcAnywhere
16. Email washer service to comply with do not send recipients (like 65.241.16.254)
17. Easy to understand instructions to operate email software and server
18. Customer references that I can speak with

Thank you.

=====

I was thinking about responding with a bid, $1.00 per e-mail sent and I'll get him set up.

[John]

Re:Attack!

[CreatureComfort]

Comcast has an automated policy that if you send/receive some significant number of emails in some short time, it will block all message from that email address. When I setup my new firewall I made the mistake of telling it to email me on every identified attack instead of just once per day. This ended up immediately issuing 6-10 emails per minute, and I didn't catch it until about 30-45 minutes later. The damage was already done. Three months later and I still can't get Comcast to unblock that email address. At least the wonderfully intelligent and helpful customer service rep on the phone was able to give me a new email addy to start using...

Re:Attack!

[llefler]

Sweet. A Lycos sponsered, remote controlled army of zombies.

Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.