Firm retaliates against cyberattacks; some fear it will make matters worse

[dave () farber net]

___

Dave Farber  +1 412 726 9889



...... Forwarded Message .......
From: gep2 () terabites com
To: dfarber () cs cmu edu
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 14:01:40 -0500
Subj: [IP] Firm retaliates against cyberattacks; some fear it will make 
matters worse

The real problems with stuff like this, as attractive as it is (even just 
to 
ping or fetch the referenced Web page from the server being promoted... 
which 
would SEEM at first blush like a good idea for an automated antispam 
filter) are 
that (and this list is not intended to be exhaustive!):

  1)  It BECOMES a mechanism for DDOS attacks and Joe-Jobs;  sending a spam 
with 
a forged origin or target URL can result in massively distributed 
retaliation 
against an innocent VICTIM rather than the real perpetrator.

  2)  URLs are often encoded to turn them into Web bugs;  even just 
fetching a 
referenced Web page is enough to tell the spammer that you've received the 
spam 
and that your E-mail address is a "good!" one.


Gordon Peterson                  http://personal.terabites.com/
1977-2002  Twenty-fifth anniversary year of Local Area Networking!
Support free and fair US elections!  http://stickers.defend-democracy.org
12/19/98: Partisan Republicans scornfully ignore the voters they 
"represent".
12/09/00: the date the Republican Party took down democracy in America.



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