The Flint Hills School, a prep academy in Oakton, Va., might seem an unlikely place to find an Internet spammer. But late last year, technicians at America Online were able to trace the origin of a new torrent of spam, or unsolicited e-mail advertisements, to the school’s computer network. On further investigation, though, AOL determined that the spammers were not enterprising students or moonlighting teachers. Instead, a spam-flinging hacker — who still has not been found — had exploited a software vulnerability to use the school’s computers to relay spam while hiding the e-mail’s true origins. It was not an isolated incident. As spam has proliferated — and with it the attempts by big Internet providers to block messages sent from the addresses of known spammers — many mass e-mailers have become more clever in avoiding the blockades by aggressively bouncing messages off the computers of unaware third parties. Full Story
About OODA Analyst
OODA is comprised of a unique team of international experts capable of providing advanced intelligence and analysis, strategy and planning support, risk and threat management, training, decision support, crisis response, and security services to global corporations and governments.