FC: A spam cyberattack? Pentagon hit by insecure announcement list

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[Anyone else snowed in here in DC? We seem to have about a foot so far, and 
it shows no immediate signs of stopping. (Sledding in Rock Creek? Hmm.) 
--Declan]

---

To: declan () well com
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 04:09:55 -0500
From: "Ethan Lindsey" <ethan.lindsey8 () lycos com>
Subject: funky DOD email snafu

Declan --
Don't know if you'd be interested, but in a somewhat less malicious attack 
on the DOD...I am on the DOD's daily email schedule listserv, as well as 
the DOD press release listserv, and today it seems somebody found a way to 
use the list for their own spam.

And the first response back was an Out-of-the-office autoreply from what 
appears to be an IBM consultant that administers the listserv. Then, 
surprisingly, every subscriber was able to send email to the list that 
would be forwarded to all other subscribers -- a feature I would be 
reasonably sure the Pentagon would have disabled.....anyways, heres the 
messages so far, in chronological order, for kicks:

Date:  Sat, 15 Feb 2003 22:17:58 +0100
From:  Polyglots - Paz <paz () THEPOLYGLOTS COM>
Subject:  Book publishing - help offered / Bokutgivning
To:  DODNEWS-L () DTIC MIL
Reply To:  DODNEWS-L-request () DTIC MIL

NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense
Message in English and Swedish
Meddelande på svenska och engelska
ENGLISH:
Are you a writer? Are you an aspiring writer? Have you written a
book-length manuscript? If you are interested in genuine help in
publishing your book in the ORIGINAL LANGUAGE and simultaneous
translations, potentially at no cost to you, contact us.
Small publishers are also invited to cooperate.
Contact:
U. Paz (Mr.)
paz () thepolyglots com
sites: www.thepolyglots.com
www.multilingual-publishing.com

SVENSKA:
Är du en författare? Är du en blivande författare? Har du skrivit ett
bokmanuskript?
Om du är intresserad av att publicera din bok på originalspråket samt
simultanöversättningar, eventuellt till inga kostnader för din del,
kontakta oss.
Även mindre förlag är inbjudna för samarbete.
Kontakta:
U. Paz (Mr.)
paz () thepolyglots com
sites: www.thepolyglots.com
www.multilingual-publishing.com

-- News Releases: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/releases.html

-- DoD News: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/dodnews.html
-- Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/dodnews.html#e-mail

-- Today in DoD: http://www.defenselink.mil/today

---------------------------------------------------

Date:  Sat, 15 Feb 2003 16:44:37 -0500
From:  Linda N Marshall <lindamar () US IBM COM>
Subject:  Linda N Marshall/Bethesda/IBM is out of the office.
To:  DODNEWS-L () DTIC MIL
Reply To:  DODNEWS-L-request () DTIC MIL

NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense
I will be out of the office starting February 14, 2003 and will not return
until February 17, 2003.
I will respond to your message when I return.

-- News Releases: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/releases.html

-- DoD News: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/dodnews.html
-- Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/dodnews.html#e-mail

-- Today in DoD: http://www.defenselink.mil/today

------------------------------------------------------

Date:  Sat, 15 Feb 2003 17:08:42 -0500
From:  Alex & Babs <AlexnBabs () COX NET>
Subject:  Re: Book publishing - help offered / Bokutgivning
To:  DODNEWS-L () DTIC MIL
Reply To:  DODNEWS-L-request () DTIC MIL

NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

WTFO?
This seems like spam/junk solicitation.
This is not why I subscribe to your service.
----- Original Message Deleted-----

--------------------------------------------------------

Date:  Sat, 15 Feb 2003 17:26:27 -0500
From:  "Poblete, Jason I." <JPoblete () REEDSMITH COM>
Subject:  Re: Book publishing - help offered / Bokutgivning
To:  DODNEWS-L () DTIC MIL
Reply To:  DODNEWS-L-request () DTIC MIL

NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

Ditto, we are also not allowed to respond, usually, to all users this way.

Date:  Sat, 15 Feb 2003 17:29:58 -0500
From:  Dustin Clark <Dustin () SWEDISHCAR COM>
Subject:  Re: Book publishing - help offered / Bokutgivning
To:  DODNEWS-L () DTIC MIL
Reply To:  DODNEWS-L-request () DTIC MIL

Seems highly suspect to me




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