From the Cloudmark Blog

• Three mobile network operators taken to court for SMS spam

  May 10 2013, by Chris Barton

  The Chilean national consumer protection service Sernac has reportedly taken three mobile operators to court over sending SMS spam about contests and sweepstakes.  As a result of the study they carried out between Dec 2012 and Feb 2013 the three networks are potentially facing fines totaling $86 million. A google translate indicates that the reports [...] Read more.

• Reputation is a function of permission

  May 8 2013, by Chris Barton

  So Mr/Ms Marketeer, you have everything in order.  You have a 400k address list, you’ve hired an ESP to make sure all the basics are in order, you’re authenticated and CAN-SPAM’d up to the eyeballs, and it’s time to market but … WHAM! your messages end up hitting the spam folder. Sound familiar? Surprised? I’m not. [...] Read more.

• Popular WordPress Plugin Modified to Inject Spammy Links

  April 29 2013, by Mark Stemm

  Slashdot had an article earlier this month about a popular WordPress plugin being used to send spam. In this case, the attack was very unusual in that the plugin code itself was modified by a rogue developer to insert spam links in generated content. This plugin was then available for download via the official WordPress [...] Read more.

• Spammers hacking web servers to host porn, send spam

  April 22 2013, by Andrew Conway

  For a long time we’ve been seeing spammers systematically compromising other people’s web sites to use URLs on them to redirect to the spammers landing page. This allows them to have a far greater range of call to action URLs in email spam. A recent attacker is not only using hacked web sites as redirectors, [...] Read more.

• 2013’s First Quarter at a Glance

  April 17 2013, by Cloudmark

  With the close of 2013’s first quarter, we’ve released our Q1 2013 Global eMessaging Threat Report detailing a myriad of SMS and IP spam statistics, trends and observations from the past three months. Paramount among them is a set of allegations leveled by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). These filings contended that the defendants were [...] Read more.

• How to report Spam using Verizon Messages

  March 20 2013, by Andrew Conway

  When you get a spam SMS message you should forward it to 7726 (that’s S-P-A-M on your phone keypad). Many mobile carriers around the world are moving to the 7726 short code as a standard way to report text message spam, although in some countries they use a different short code, such as in France [...] Read more.

• How to report text message spam on an Android phone

  March 19 2013, by Andrew Conway

  When you get a spam SMS message you should forward it to 7726 (that’s S-P-A-M on your phone keypad).  This reports the spam message to your mobile carrier so that they can take action against the spammer. Many mobile carriers around the world are moving to the 7726 short code as a standard way to [...] Read more.

• How to report Text Message Spam on an iPhone

  March 18 2013, by Andrew Conway

  When you get a spam SMS message you should forward it to 7726 (that’s S-P-A-M on your phone keypad).  This reports the spam message to your mobile carrier so that they can take action against the spammer. Many mobile carriers around the world are moving to the 7726 short code as a standard way to [...] Read more.

• Botnets: Does Size Matter?

  March 18 2013, by Andrew Conway

  Every so often the command and control servers for a botnet get taken down, and we are told breathlessly by the more extravagant security experts that this botnet was responsible for a quarter (or a half or a third) or all the world’s spam, and that we can expect to see a big reduction in [...] Read more.

• FTC charges 29 defendants for sending 180 million spam text messages

  March 7 2013, by Angela Knox

  Today the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that they have charged 29 defendants with collectively sending 180 million unwanted text messages. The text messages advertised “Free” Gift cards or prizes from major retailers such as Best Buy, Walmart and Target.  However, consumers who clicked on the links contained in the text messages were required to provide [...] Read more.