January 4, 2008 - 7:33 A.M.
Huge spammer indictment in motown (and A:OLDJOKE.COM)
1 comment- TAGS:Alan Ralsky, DoJ, pump and dump, spam, stock kiting
- IT TOPICS:Desktop Applications, Enterprise Software & Services, Government & Regulation, Security, Software, Internet
Bloody Vikings! It's IT Blogwatch: in which alleged spammer Alan Ralsky is indicted by a grand jury. Not to mention the oldest MS-DOS joke in the world...
Yesterday's sober press release from the DOJ reads thuswise:
A federal grand jury indictment was unsealed today in Detroit charging 11 persons, including Alan M. Ralsky ... in a wide-ranging international fraud scheme involving the illegal use of bulk commercial e-mailing, or "spamming" ... The charges arose after a three-year investigation ... revealed a sophisticated and extensive spamming operation that, as alleged in the indictment, largely focused on running a stock “pump and dump” scheme. [more]
Spamhaus's Quentin Jenkins crows:
Our specialists work regularly with law enforcement investigating a number of spammers, and while we can never talk about the details, we're delighted that we were able to contribute to this indictment, and that it can now be made public ... Ralsky topped our Top 10 Worst Spammers list for quite some time and was involved in almost any sort of spam activity that's being done. His gang frequently sent millions of spam messages per day. [more]
Derek Meister:
Ralsky ... the Michigan man often cited by experts as one of the premier sources of junk email ... [and] called the “Spam King” by internet security experts, is unique in the field as he’s often given interviews to news reporters in which he defends his self-proclaimed “legitimate” advertising practices. [more]
Gary Warner:
Congratulations to First Assistant US Attorney Terrence Berg and his colleagues in Detroit for being willing to prosecute one of the top spammers, as revealed in a 41-count indictment unveiled today ... The FBI raided Ralsky's home in 2005, and apparently today's indictments are the conclusion of that investigation ... While a total pricetag may never be placed on all of Ralsky's illegal profits, DOJ says he earned $3 Million just in the summer of 2005. [more]
Laura Atkins:
His name is well known among ISP abuse desks ... and has been involved in legal actions with ISPs in the past, including one suit where he was sued by Verizon for sending spam to Verizon subscribers. That suit was eventually settled. This suit can only be good for legitimate email senders. Gangs like Al Ralsky’s make it much more difficult for ISPs to selectively block spam, and trying to combat their use of botnets has resulted in legitmate email being blocked. [more]
Big cheer here from farbles:
Spam has steadily increased on my server to where it is 98%+ of all mail. Virus mail is about 1% so real legitimate email is now less than one per cent of mail ... It's crazy and it keeps increasing month after month. It has cost my company thousands of dollars ... When someone does catch one, they should go medieval on them. In our enlightened times this means mega-fines and long jail terms in the worst prisons that can be found. [more]
But Arrogant-Bastard has this contrariwise view:
He'll walk with a slap on the wrist ... I predict. The maximum fines are but a tiny fraction of his monthly income. The jail terms aren't a threat given overcrowded prisons, the focus on the farcial War on Drugs (TM), the classification of this as a "white-collar" crime, and the technical illiteracy of both juries and judges when it comes to spam. Not to mention that Ralsky is easily smart enough to have planned for this and no doubt has plenty of high-priced legal talent at his disposal -- plus, I wouldn't doubt, a carefully maintained stash of information on other spammers that he can use to plea-bargain his way out of much of this. [more]
And finally...
- The oldest MS-DOS joke in the world [You're fired -Ed.]
Buffer overflow:
- Mathew Ingram: Facebook: Whose data is it anyway?
- Betsy Schiffman: Marc Andreessen Sheds No Tears Over Netscape Demise
- Todd Bishop: Bill Gates named in flurry of patent applications
- Michael Arrington: Phishing For Facebook
- 4sysops: Vista UAC poll: 67% disabled it -Tips for handling UAC
- Jason Synder: SanDisk auto-syncs flash drive files online
- Shayne Nelson: What's wrong with 90% of software written today?
- Mike Masnick: Should Allowing A Massive Data Breach Be A Criminal Offense?
- iface thoughts: Choosing A Version Control System
- Iljitsch van Beijnum: IPv6: coming to a root server near you
Other Computerworld bloggers:
- Eric Lai: E-mail is dead! Long live mobile 'push' (aka CrackBerry) e-mail!
- Joyce Carpenter: Cell phones slow traffic: Shut up and drive
- Don Tennant: Bellybuttons in the workplace?
- Mark Hall: Great 2007 IT
- Preston Gralla: No sex, please...we're Chinese
- Preston Gralla: U.S. at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to privacy
- Shark Bait: You're leaving!?! We need your bonus back
Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You too can pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.
Previously in IT Blogwatch:
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