ISPs blamed for Spam

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28950-2003Dec24.html


Group Lambastes UUNet on Spam

By Jonathan Krim
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 25, 2003; Page E01

When Virginia's attorney general announced the arrest of a man they alleged 
was a top e-mail spammer two weeks ago, an executive of UUNet -- one of the 
country's largest Internet network providers -- stood proudly nearby.

The Northern Virginia-based company, a division of WorldCom Inc., had 
helped prosecutors build their case against the man listed by a leading 
anti-spam tracking group as the eighth-biggest spammer in the world.

But that same group, Spamhaus.org, also monitors the world's Internet 
service providers, the companies that connect people and businesses to the 
Internet. In that category, Spamhaus lists UUNet as the ISP allowing the 
most spammers onto its network, based on the Internet addresses they are using.

Britain-based Spamhaus lists 128 spammers with accounts on UUNet-controlled 
networks, although some of the listings were for the same organization 
operating under multiple names.

Of the 128, 16 are among the most prolific spammers, according to Spamhaus. 
Only bulk mailers who have been kicked off at least three other ISPs for 
spamming are on the Spamhaus list.

In the war against spam, ISPs play a crucial role. They are the gateways to 
the online world, and bulk e-mailers need them to send spam. As spam has 
grown to account for roughly 60 percent of all e-mail, many ISPs have spent 
heavily to beef up their spam-fighting efforts, often competing with one 
another over whose features are most effective.

Many ISPs engage in daily combat with spammers, shutting down their 
connections only to see the spammers pop up again with new accounts under 
different names.

Spamhaus lists more than 275 U.S.-based ISPs with spammers operating on 
their networks, many of them for as long as a year. The list includes some 
of the best-known ISPs, including those operated by telephone and cable 
companies.

Craig Silliman, a UUNet network facilities director, said the Spamhaus 
ranking is unfair.

UUNet, along with a few other firms such as AT&T Corp., Level 3 
Communications Inc. and Cable & Wireless PLC, own large portions of the 
Internet's "backbone." These firms act as wholesalers to other firms, 
including large ISPs such as America Online and Microsoft's MSN network.

Some companies, in turn, might resell some of that Internet space to 
smaller firms. Thus, Silliman said, the spammers listed as being the 
responsibility of UUNet's networks are generally not its direct customers.

Alan Murphy, a Spamhaus volunteer, responded that UUNet could do much more.

"We hear these customer of a customer of a customer excuses constantly," he 
said. "There's no doubt that UUNet is selling . . . connectivity to major 
spam gangs."

Two ISP services operated by telephone giant SBC Communications Inc., 
swbell.net and pacbell.net, have a combined 61 known spammers on their 
networks, according to Spamhaus. In the case of swbell.net, a large 
percentage of the spammers are listed by Spamhaus as especially notorious 
and have made its Register of Known Spam Operations list.

"More than two . . . listings is a strong indication your ISP is in 
trouble," Spamhaus advises ISPs.

Larry Meyer, an SBC spokesman, said his company does not consult the 
Spamhaus lists or use them as a resource.

"We choose to maintain our own list," Meyer said. "We act when there are 
complaints to our abuse lines."

At UUNet, Silliman said his firm respects Spamhaus and tries to work with 
it, but many of the listings are out of date.

UUNet, he said, aggressively enforces its policies that prohibit spam "and 
we terminate customers . . . whether downstream or not" if they violate them.

But he said it is not always easy to work through layers of customers to 
find the right entity to terminate a spammer's account. "The system 
sometimes breaks down," he said.

Spamhaus has a different view.

"This is UUNet," the Spamhaus site says about one alleged spammer on UUNet, 
greenbamboo.net. "So, sadly, we expect this listing to be permanent."

Increasingly, ISPs are taking spammers to court, and are the only private 
entities given the right to sue under a new federal anti-spam law that 
takes effect Jan. 1.

As a result, many spammers are moving their operations overseas.

Of the 10 worst performing ISPs on the Spamhaus list, five are based 
outside the United States, a number that experts expect to grow.

"As spamming becomes more organized and criminal . . . they are tending to 
find places overseas," said Susan Larson, a vice president for SurfControl, 
an anti-spam service provider.

Larson said overseas Internet providers, especially in China, Brazil, 
Russia and India, offer "bullet-proof" hosting of both e-mail and Web sites.

This means they will resist pressure from anti-spam groups to cancel the 
accounts of spammers doing business with them.

Some U.S. companies offer similar services, though they all have 
disclaimers that they do not condone or permit spam.

"Some ISPs in the United States are not being as vigilant as they claim to 
be," Larson said.

Level3 and Exodus.net, a division of Cable & Wireless, also are on 
Spamhaus's top 10 list of companies that operate networks used by large 
spammers. Like UUNet, they are wholesalers of Internet connections.

Bill Hancock, chief security officer for Cable & Wireless, said his company 
consults the Spamhaus lists and enforces anti-spam policies. But like 
UUNet's Silliman, he said it can be difficult for Internet wholesalers to 
police their networks as rapidly as spammers move.

Exodus.net has 51 spammers on networks under its control, according to 
Spamhaus, many operating for several months.

Others on the ISP list for the United States include Verizon 
Communication's Verizon.net; bellsouth.net, a unit of BellSouth Corp.; and 
comcast.net, part of Comcast Corp.

©

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