[78-L] (no subject) el spammo

[Steven C. Barr]

From: "Ken "Silver Showcase"" <kenreg at tds.net>
> David Lennick wrote:
>> Looks as if Randy's e-mail has been overtaken by aliens. Interesting that 
>> I got this on my Yahoo address but Sympatico filtered it.
> There seems to be a rise in email hacking.  I moderate a Yahoo chat
> list, and some of our members have been hacked in the last month or so,
> and spam for snake oil medicine has been sent.  This hasn't happened
> before.  I've also received spam in my private email from friends who
> have been hacked.
> Not sure what to do about it.
>
It is possible to put ANY name in the text of the "From" entry; in fact,
you can do that in your own e-mail applications. It is much harder
(but CAN be done!) to hack into a person's actual e-mail account
with his/her/its ISP and post SPAM therefrom. However, good
anti-spam filters don't care where the stuff comes from...they
look for certain phrases in messages.

The intersting thing is that the sort of spam involved (the sale
of illicit prescription drugs) would seem to me to be LESS likely
to be successful if it came from folks who would have no desire
or need to be promoting it...?!

Steven C. Barr