Security Basics mailing list archives
RE: Windows Messenger Pop-up spam
From: "Paul Kurczaba" <paul () myipis com>
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 16:15:40 -0500
I think that *most* major ISP's have now blocked ports 135-139 and 445; inbound and outbound. This is probably why there has been less windows messenger popups. Some people may have also gone into "services" and disabled the messenger service. (Now if ISP's could only just block port 25; comsumer ISP's that is :) -Paul -----Original Message----- From: Matthew Romanek [mailto:shandower () gmail com] Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 10:25 AM To: security-basics () securityfocus com Subject: Windows Messenger Pop-up spam 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
Current thread:
- Windows Messenger Pop-up spam Matthew Romanek (Nov 29)
- Re: Windows Messenger Pop-up spam Jon Lawhead (Nov 29)
- RE: Windows Messenger Pop-up spam David Gillett (Nov 30)
- Re: Windows Messenger Pop-up spam Ramsey Consulting Services (Nov 29)
- RE: Windows Messenger Pop-up spam Paul Kurczaba (Nov 29)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- RE: Windows Messenger Pop-up spam Chris Merkel (Nov 29)
- Re: Windows Messenger Pop-up spam Andrew Smith (Nov 30)
- Windows Messenger Pop-up spam Seth Jackson (Nov 30)
- RE: Windows Messenger Pop-up spam Beauford, Jason (Nov 30)
- RE: Windows Messenger Pop-up spam Steven Trewick (Nov 30)
- Re: Windows Messenger Pop-up spam Jon Lawhead (Nov 29)