Re: Windows Messenger Pop-up spam

["Jon Lawhead" <samurai () berkeley edu>]

Like all spammers, those who advertise (intrusively) through Windows Messenger only do so to make 
a profit.  When directions for disabling Windows Messenger started being easily available, and 
when ISP's and tech support workers started urging (or forcing) customers to install firewall 
software, advertising with Windows Messenger ceased to be quite as profitable, so they stopped 
doing it.  I work for IT at UC Berkeley, and 8,000 students arrive every year, many with no 
protection, and I've yet to hear a complaint about this.  That may be, as you said, that something 
more serious infects them before the spammers have a chance to find them, but I don't think so.  


Jon Lawhead
UC Berkeley SINE/ResComp

On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 07:24:54 -0800
 Matthew Romanek <shandower () gmail com> wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I've a question, asked purely for the sake of curiosity. 
>
> I was just reminded of the bad old days working for an ISP where every
> other call was about lewd messages popping up on a user's screen when
> they weren't even doing anything. Windows messaging popups were THE
> complaint at the time, and slowly we convinced people that personal
> firewalls were a good idea (via messenger popups, no less. We were a
> scummy little ISP, and no great bastion of morality).
>
> It just occured to me that I (personally) haven't seen a popup in
> several years. I assume it's because we've learned about security and
> firewalling and all that. So my question is: Is this sort of stuff
> still a problem? Does it still exist in the wild? I suppose I could
> plug an unprotected windows machine into a public IP address, but I
> think I'd be likely to be taken out by something worse before a
> messenger ad comes along. And I'm not THAT curious. :)
>
> --
> Matthew 'Shandower' Romanek
> IDS Analyst