US Military Looks For Massive Spam Solution

Several users have pointed out a recent request to technology companies from the Defense Information System Agency for ideas on how to build an e-mail defense system to catch spam. The solution would have to scan about 50 million inbound messages a day across some 700 unclassified network domains. "Defense currently scans e-mails for viruses and spam coming into systems serving the military services, commands or units. DISA wants to extend the protection to the interface between the Internet and its unclassified network, the Non-classified Internet Protocol Router Network. The agency also wants the ability to scan all outbound e-mails from the 5 million users. [...] DISA's request ties in with recommendations that the Defense Science Board issued in April that said Defense is more vulnerable to cyberattacks because of its decentralized networks and systems. The board envisioned a major role for DISA in developing the architecture for enterprise-wide systems."

Comments

Why bother with an IT solution?

[A beautiful mind]

Seriously, it's less than two dozen guys pumping out 90% of the spam in the world. I would guess that the law enforcements and militaries of the world should just do their jobs and apprehend these criminals.

I'd certainly appreciate real action like getting rid of spam than for the CIA/US Military to spend time chasing down far fetched terrorist plots. I'm constantly stunned that given the damage spam creates, special branches aren't more active in tracking and _eliminating_ the sources of these things.

Re:Why bother with an IT solution?

[A beautiful mind]

I was a bit off by saying less than two dozen, but I wasn't off by that much. Spamhaus says 200 heavyduty spammers are generating 80% of the spam in the world.

The numbers I had in my mind are an outdated estimate I've heard a couple of years back. It's good to remember to question information and it looks like I forgot about keeping my assumptions up to date...

Re:Router level solution

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Because spam doesn't work that way anymore. It comes from botnets where each individual zombie only sends one or less messages to the target and need only send out 20 or 30 each day total to still be effective.

Re:Router level solution

[epiphani]

That's because you want a router to do something it doesn't care about. That would require full layer 7 visibility on the router - then it wouldn't be nearly as good at doing what its supposed to: routing.

Most routers rarely look above layer 3. Occasionally they'll do some layer 4 stuff, but that is best left to firewalls or load balancers.

Also, routers aren't programmed to ignore DOS attacks. They're programmed to ignore very specific types of DOS attacks, sometimes.