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Microsoft Engineer Discovers Android Spam Botnet, Google Denies Claim

Posted by samzenpus on from the yes-you-did-no-we-didn't dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft engineer Terry Zink has discovered Android devices are being used to send spam. He has identified an international Android botnet and outlined the details on his MSDN blog. A closer look at the e-mails' header information shows all the messages come from compromised Yahoo accounts. Furthermore, they are also stamped with the 'Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android' signature. Google has denied the allegations. 'The evidence does not support the Android botnet claim,' a Google spokesperson said in a statement. 'Our analysis suggests that spammers are using infected computers and a fake mobile signature to try to bypass anti-spam mechanisms in the email platform they're using.'"

3 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Just link to the ACTUAL blog entry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Would it kill you to link to MSDN - where the blog entry actually resides? I get the anti-MS sentiment (although jeez, quit living in the 90s), but making readers jump to ZDNet first (or sending them back to /.) is just being passive aggressive.

    1. Re:Just link to the ACTUAL blog entry by Unoriginal_Nickname · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Microsoft is evil in the same way that suicide is a sin. We're talking about a company that's only relevant on one doomed platform, choking to death on too many brands and too many failed attempts to enter other markets. Unix is everywhere. Unix beat Microsoft a long time ago.

      Stop poisoning the discourse by giving Microsoft such a disproportionate share of the hate. Adobe's just as bad, and Oracle's a lot worse. Why don't you rail against them? Why don't we talk about how, once Windows is gone, our only practical choice will be between a walled garden or an operating system that's philosophically dominated by the toxic, vapid musings of a man who literally believes that it is better to let your children starve to death than ply your trade as a software developer?

  2. Re:Go Microsoft by thatseattleguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And if anyone knows how to take what should be a simple, straightforward, technical discussion and turn it into a MS vs Google flame war, it will be Slashdot commenters.