Feds pursue Russian, 23, behind ⅓ of ALL WORLD SPAM FBI investigators have named a 23-year-old Russian as a prime suspect behind the operation of the infamous 500,000 Mega-D botnet, blamed for an estimated one in three spam emails prior to a take-down operation early last year. Oleg Nikolaenko, a 23-year-old Moscow resident, was accused of violating US anti-spam and fraud laws …
...using SHOUTY HEADLINES as a way of mocking SHOUTY TABLOIDS like the New York Post and the Super Sensationalistic Soaraway Sun.
You'll notice they only use the all-caps headlines in stories which LEND THEMSELVES TO SENSATIONALIZING.
Sorry about the shouting.
See my previous comment re: the NY Post and The Sun.
The Drudge Report is notorious for this, too. Whenever NASA reports an NEO (Near-Earth Object) may pass within as much as five million miles of Earth, Drudge runs a big shouty headline at the top of the page, reading something like OH MY GOD, IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR US with that stupid-assed animated spinning police light gif over it.
Speaking of which, Reg... that might be an even more effective way of being sarcastic about easily-sensationalized stories; along with the mocking shouty headline, you could use that stupid animated spinning police light from the Drudge Report. I've nabbed a copy to use on my blog for just such an occasion; I can email a copy to you if you want.
"Should we get them to off Gary McKinnon while we're at it? The Feds want him too."
The difference is that only the Feds want McKinnon, whereas most of the internet using world wants rid of this arsewipe. There is also the questions of impact - McKinnon caused a few hundred K $ worth of damage (which I don't believe), whereas this guy caused billions.
I think you'll find that method is (c) to the Iranian security services. It's the one they go for when someone's been a shade off-message recently* and it's decided that having another martyr on the books rather than a loose cannon on the deck is the preferred option.
Probably helps in that decision that most people think it's Mossad or the CIA behind it.....
*e.g. Daring to suggest that chucking nukes at Yank assets would be a suicidally stupid move.
In "From Russia With Love" James Bond has a altercation with the lethal, cobbler-enhanced shoe of one Rosa Krebs. Narrowly avoiding an early demise Bond pins his assailant to the wall with a strategically placed chair.
I note in the article "Security blogger and ex Washington Post reporter Brian Krebs...."
Are they by chance related?
/ black 'copter for obvious reasons.
I have to say that if your infrastructure permits a single 23-year-old living thousands of miles away to waste 1/3 of your bandwidth and cost squillions to all and sundry in lost time and the occasional scam...
...then the 23-year-old isn't the problem. He's just the most obvious symptom.
I await the day when ISPs and online providers (Yahoo, google, etc) give us (the individual users) the ability to use IP blocking.
ie: I don't want to see any webcontent, or receive any email from Russia or Brazil for example.
If enough people voted with their feet this way, Russia might rethink harboring cybercriminals.
And this method wpuld still protect net neutrality - it isn't censorship by the providers - it is based on the individual will of individual internet users.
(IP blocking of botnets would get a bit more complex than simply blocking major IP blocks, but could be driven by dynamic blacklists)
"a 23-year-old Russian as a prime suspect behind the operation of the infamous 500,000 Mega-D botnet, blamed for an estimated one in three spam emails prior to a take-down operation early last year"
Ah, that must mean he was sending out spam while still in nappies -- well, it would account for the spam I got years back when it were just 'ladies wishing to make your aquaintance' and knob-pills.
Say, for example,. all the spam houses together send 1 million emails a year for five years, but then along comes a new guy and sends 3 million in one year. That means that in six years, "everyone else" sent a total of 6 million emails, while the newcomer sent 3 million, for a total of 9 million. Over a period of six years, the new guy sent 1/3 of the total spam.
Of course, my example is vastly simplified, and I don't have any handy data to prove that case is the reality, but it nonetheless proves it a possibility.
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