Slashdot Mirror
Spammers Announce World War III
schliz writes with the stub of a disheartening article at IT News: "Hackers are deluging web users with malware-laden spam claiming that World War III has started following a US invasion of Iran. Security experts warned [yesterday] that spam emails with subject lines including 'Third World War has begun,' '20000 US Soldiers in Iran,' and 'US Army crossed Iran's borders' have been intercepted. The emails contain links to a malicious webpage that displays what appears to be a video player showing the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion."
I can tell from the text and seeing quite a few spams in my time.
This just in: malware propagators have learned that sending a mass e-mail that will grab the attention of anyone who reads it is the best way to spread malware. More at 11.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
Did spam make it to the front page?
It has to be a really slow news day if we get an article explaining what is in specific pieces of spam.
I'm waiting patiently for Slashdot to post the Nigerian folks that always email for the millions they have to give away. Because you know -- that is real news. For nerds. Stuff that matters.
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
World War III is starting? Oh god, I still haven't received my check from that Nigerian prince! And where's my viagra?
I wonder what the possible effects of a coordinated disinformation attack of such nature would be, if it managed to deliver said news to a large segment of the world's population (that have access to email). If such an act was coupled with a successful hacking operation on even one of the major news network's websites, serious consequences may erupt.
Doesn't spam generally imply that something is being sold? Granted, this unsolicited email could be a way for the spammers to recruit systems to their bot-nets to push out more spam, but there's no indication in the summary that there is any actual attempt to sell something here.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Not with a bang but a can of luncheon meat.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
Be sure you filter out any email about Iran to help out Uncle Sam. Oh yeah, buy war bonds and get back to wark.
This gives me a new hope.
Now we can divert some of the resources from the Global War On Terror (GWOT) and fight the Global War Against Spam, Terror, & Erectile Dysfunction (GWASTED).
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
this is is particularly eye catching, given current work events. Since it is different, many people will click on it anyways.
I know some people who I will be sending an email to about this story so they don't click on it.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
WWIII isn't scheduled to begin for another two weeks, and it's going to involve a fake attack on the US by "Iran" (actually the CIA) followed by a massive "retaliatory strike", not an invasion by any US forces. Can't these spammers get anything right?
I think you might need to loosen your tinfoil hat there a little bit buddy...
Roughly half my comments are never submitted. You may be reading the better half...
It's amazing how people can be tricked by something that is on its surface so laughable that it should be dismissed outright!
After all, how could World War III possibly have started when World War II hasn't even ended yet?! Just because there's no obvious troop movements or visible battles doesn't mean that merged ghosts of Churchill and Roosevelt along with their dark ally Zombie Stalin don't yet wage war against the forces of Hitler's Head and the demon-animated armor of Hirohito! No, you can see the effects of this conflict every day in the fluctuations of the price of milk to the record of the Essex cricket team. So don't believe anything you read about some ludicrous World War III until you see the purple flag of the Undying Allies flying over the White House, indicating our inevitable triumph!
After that, though, it's fair game.
The enemies of Democracy are
Slashdot posts article containing the words "World War III" in it's headline, hoping this attracts attention. Once users click to "read more" they are ambushed by trolls masquerading as insightful or funny comments, but in fact containing insidious messages....
One if by Spam,
Two if by sea.
Crap, that's where I keep all my stuff.
http://xkcd.com/331/
On a serious note i saw a cool article at physorg yesterday about speculation in the oil market. From the article it would appear there is a major oil bubble about to burst. Though I'm certainly no expert in the matter.
I suspect they just figured a way around some spam filters for a little while. Most anything novel should get by for a while, once it starts getting flagged it should dissipate.
Prediction: The real iPhone killer is going to be sex robots from Japan. Think about it.
Everyone who is a part of a botnet should have their computer confiscated. They are too dumb to be allowed to have one.
We can easily wipe, the machine's hard drive and then install a new OS and you have a computer to give away to schools.
Two problems solved at once: one less idiot on the net and a free computer for a school.
World War III is just not going to happen anytime soon, at least a non-nuclear war. If it is nuclear than everyone is fucked everywhere and it's a moot point. We may go in and destroy Iran, but that is hardly going to escalate into WWIII. Just look at the countries and continents involved.
Antarctica and the Artic: Hmmmm, last the checked the Intuit peoples and the Penguins did not have some sort of secret alliance and hidden military. Probably not a player in WWIII.
Australia: Kind of remote. Might contribute troops but hardly the location for WWIII or the political force to cause it either.
Greenland: Too busy with awesome blond chicks, high tech data centers, and hot spas. Not interested in causing it and no one is interested in attacking it.
North America - Canada: Highly doubtful. If anything, they will be an innocent bystander that gets hurt when the US gets attacked. Won't start WWIII either.
North America - United States: Oh, the US will be involved. Bet your ass on that. Could start it too most likely if we have another idiot child president. Will it host the war on its own continent? Probably not. Getting troops and equipment to the US is a heck of a lot harder than Red Dawn made it out to be. Candidate for World War III.
North America - Mexico: They have problems of their own right now with the drug cartels and political scandals. Don't have anything military wise capable of waging a strategic war away from their own continent. No one is interested in attacking them, and they don't seem to be interested in attacking anyone else either.
South America - All: Way to involved in their own affairs and completely lack any military infrastructure capable of operations away from their home soil. Other than having a country with a president that likes to verbally attack the US, not much to see here. Who wants to invade and attack them? I dunno either.
Europe: Look at the countries that make up the EU. They don't want to start anything anywhere. They are far more diplomatic about dealing with the middle east than the US is. I doubt they will be invaded and I don't see them causing World War III either. Took a major chill pill after World War II. They are on break, and don't even get me started on the French.
Eastern Europe: Still getting on their feet IMO. Lack the resources or the will to put up much of fight for anything. I know there are some tensions between some east european countries and Russia regarding missile defense, but not very likely to start World War III.
Japan: Too busy making and selling entertainment equipment, cars, and used womens panties. They figured out the best way to wage war was with skyscrapers and advanced technology in products. Next.
Africa: Yeah, right. They are too busy being butt raped for resources by the rest of the world and dealing with chronic disease and gang rapes of women. Next.
South East Asia: Not very likely. I can't see any country being invaded or doing the invading.
North Korea: Will launch a single attack and promptly be totally destroyed within days. Everybody will ignore the rotting corpse and nobody will come to their aid, certainly not China. China would only object if there was a nuclear response to North Korea which is not totally necessary.
India: More interesting. If anything happens they might take the opportunity to attack Pakistan since they just love each other.
Russia: Who are they going to fight? US? China? Not until resources become absolutely critical. We got the missile defense deal going, which does remind me of the Cuban Missile crisis, but actuall
Look at the countries that make up the EU. They don't want to start anything anywhere. They are far more diplomatic about dealing with the middle east than the US is. I doubt they will be invaded and I don't see them causing World War III either. Took a major chill pill after World War II. They are on break, and don't even get me started on the French.
More like they were castrated after WW/II by American Troops being stationed throughout Europe to prevent them from starting yet another war. There is no question WW/III would have happened if the United States hadn't taken over nearly all the military operations in Europe.
They are diplomatic because that's all the power they have at this point. This is a double-edged sword; Europe is now nearly powerless to start another war, but they're also close to useless when it comes to helping out when military action is really needed.
(Some younger Europeans will probably be peeved about this post, but they really need to read their own unbelievably bloodthirsty history)
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
There is no question WW/III would have happened if the United States hadn't taken over nearly all the military operations in Europe.
"No question"? Really? [citation needed].
Perhaps you're thinking about the Morgenthau Plan, which was a primarily economic effort (which only lasted a few years) to "industrially disarm" Germany.
To the best of my knowledge, the primary reason for the stationing of US troops in Europe was to expand the US sphere of influence here (yes, I'm European) as a bulwark against the Soviets -- with whom relations were already beginning to deteriorate at the close of the war.
And no, I can't be bothered to dig up references for that, which I suppose makes me a hypocrite but hey, technically I should be working! :)