"ViddyHo" attack

There's a deady worm passing through gChat; I was attacked this afternoon! I survived by not doing anything. Don't give them your gmail information!

A phishing attack is quickly spreading through instant-messaging sessions, including Google Chat, and directing victims to a Web site called “ViddyHo.”


A link, shortened through TinyURL, directs message recipients to a ViddyHo login page. That page instructs them to enter their Google account information, which is then used to break into the victim’s account and send the link to other users in the victim’s address book or buddy list.






That’s particularly risky in the case of Google, he said, since a spammer with access to a victim’s GChat account might use it to tap his or her Gmail, Blogger or other Google accounts.

UPDATE: Kevin Gilbertson, TinyURL’s founder, said that the site is now blocking any TinyURLs from being created that point to the site.

Readers, have you been spammed by these phishing attacks yet? Have you seen them anywhere else?

via http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/02/24/viddyho-attack-spreads-through-chat-sessions/

Feds Bust Spam Overlord ISP; In Unrelated News, Pleas For Sex From Horny 18 Year Old Virgins Troublingly Disappear From America's Inboxes

After receiving information gathered during an investigation conducted by the group of B.A. Internet commandos at the Washington Post Security Fix blog, the Feds have shut down a renegade ISP called McColo, which apparently is responsible for routing up to 75% of all spam sent out globally! McColo also hosted numerous child porn distribution sites as well as tons of other vile crap that makes the Internet the most wretched hive of scum and villainy this side of Mos Eisley Cantina.

Almost immediately after the closure, spam traffic across the web plummeted:

I see what you did there.

Although this seems like a great victory in the war on Spam, it is most likely only symbolic at best. As long as the Internet remains a relatively free and unregulated space (which it should), spammers and scammers will find a way to keep doing what they are doing. Still, it is nice to see the government actually action against this sort of exploitative filth.