Infosecurity.US

HostExploit, information security researchers and recognized leaders in anti-spam research, have announced the release of a particularly enlightening report, this time focusing on the disturbing details of nefarious activities at rogue ISP McColo.

According to the report, rogue ISP McColo is (along with fellow criminal registrar ESTDomains and rogue ISP Atrivo/Intercage) one of the most prolific transmitters of unsolicited commercial email (UCE) or SPAM on the planet.  A short snippet from the announcement, along with appropriate links, appear after the page break.

From HostExploit: “HostExploit presents the second CYBER CRIME USA report which highlights those Internet players that currently host the world’s major spam botnets (an estimated 50% of spam worldwide), malware, rogue PC security products, cybercrime affiliate payment systems, and child pornography.  This study from HostExploit.com is based on tracking and documenting ongoing cyber criminal activity. As a result of the first report focusing on Atrivo / Intercage and subsequent community actions, there was a quantitative drop of 10% of spam and malware worldwide. While temporary, it does clearly demonstrate that with a concerted and consistent effort by concerned commercial Internet network operators, a safer Internet can ensue.

On this occasion we focus on McColo and others that, like Atrivo / Intercage, actually operate from servers and depend on US transit peers. This open source security study sets out to quantify and continuously track cyber crime using numerous methods of measurement.  In addition to original quantitative research and analysis, the study draws upon and welcomes the findings of other research efforts.  What emerges is a picture of a front for cyber criminals who specifically target consumers in the United States and elsewhere. It provides hard data regarding specific current activity within McColo and associated networks, explains how consumers are targeted, and describes McColo’s virtual network structure.”