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  1. #1

    Thumbs up Lycos provides screen saver that sends useless traffic to spammers

    Last edited by RossH; 11-27-2004 at 04:38 AM.

  2. #2
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    Yikes, somehow I am not shocked though.
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  3. #3

  4. #4
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    I think it's a good idea, you don't need a lot of traffic to take out a web site, you don't even have to listen to the whole response, I presume Lycos engineers have considered this. Not a long term solution, but I'm at least going to give it a try.
    MattF - Since the start..

  5. #5
    I installed it and was sending crap to tons of spam servers last night......I guess I'm getting one back for all the spam I get.

    The thing Lycos did right was making sure they could throttle it.

  6. #6
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    So what is the difference between this and a DDOS attack?
    Haven't been on WHT for 6 years!

  7. #7
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    Well, lycos say they stop / slow down the attack when the site starts to struggle, thereby, somehow in their minds, its not a DDOS. I just feel bad for those companies that might be unknowningly hosting a spammer and on the receiving end of all this.

    IMHO, a DDOS is a DDOS, and this is a DDOS.

  8. #8
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    and this is legal how?

  9. #9
    Originally posted by JYC
    and this is legal how?
    It's prefectly legal, all you are doing is sending traffic to a server without denying service to anyone

  10. #10
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    How do they gather information about what servers are spamming? Do they check to make sure no decent websites will be harmed in the process?

  11. #11
    Originally posted by ub3r
    How do they gather information about what servers are spamming? Do they check to make sure no decent websites will be harmed in the process?
    Go read....Spamcop/Spamhaus

  12. #12
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    Originally posted by RossH
    It's prefectly legal, all you are doing is sending traffic to a server without denying service to anyone
    but isn't this preformed with intent to harm?

    that certainly can't be legal...

    two wrongs don't make a right you know

  13. #13
    Originally posted by JYC
    but isn't this preformed with intent to harm?

    that certainly can't be legal...

    two wrongs don't make a right you know
    Not to harm....but to raise bandwidth bills....just like all the spam does for everyone else.

  14. #14
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    Originally posted by RossH
    Not to harm....but to raise bandwidth bills....just like all the spam does for everyone else.
    Usually a spammer will sign up for a hosting account with a stolen CC. The only one left to boot the bill here is the ISP / Web Host who's also got to put up with the chargeback possible negative impact on business because of the flow of traffic through their pipes.

    If a host is willingly hosting a spammer, do they deserve it ? Yes. Is it right? No.

  15. #15
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    Drain scammer bandwidth.

    I found this on another forum I visit. This web site automatically reloads images used by fake banks and scam websites to drain their bandwidth.

    http://www.aa419.org/ladvampire.html

    Also lycos has a sceensaver out as well that does the same.

    Forum I found this on.
    http://discuss.futuremark.com/forum/...&o=0&fpart=all

  16. #16
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    16 images, (14 active, 2 suffering, 0 dead). 12440 images loaded (9/s), 16 load failures.
    So far.....
    Haven't been on WHT for 6 years!

  17. #17
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    I think there may be legal issues involved, it seems to be another type of DOS attacks.

  18. #18
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    But do you think these scammers are going to report anything?
    Thats like a bank robber going to the cops to say somebody shot him.
    Haven't been on WHT for 6 years!

  19. #19
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    Well Lycos do it and I'm sure they don't want to get hit with big legal fees so they must of looked at it from that point of view.

    From what I have read the lycos one is a bit more intelligent than just sending thousands of people to a site and once. It does not send so many people through that it takes the server offline, just enough to use a nice amount of transfer and bandwidth.
    Steve

  20. #20
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    You'd have to get a lot of people for it to work. 1500 images and I've only burned 30MB of bandwidth. If a server has 2,000,000MB, this is nothing..

    50MB @ 16 images, (15 active, 1 suffering, 0 dead). 3010 images loaded (7/s), 9 load failures.

    All done.
    Last edited by Dan L; 11-28-2004 at 01:16 PM.

  21. #21
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    Kinda interesting... I've got it running on a couple of servers, curious to see what it does.

    Sirius
    I support the Human Rights Campaign!
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  22. #22
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    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11...pe_spam_blitz/

    Lycos talk about 10million of these things running... that certainly will have an effect.
    Steve

  23. #23
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    Do NOT support Lycos !

    Lycos Europe is currently developing a screen saver that takes information from SpamCop and does a DDoS similar attack against a server hosting a site listed there (after beeing reviewed by Lycos staff) with the intent to slow the server down and cause costs. We all know how often it happens that legitimate email ads end up on SpamCop or blacklists. Many of us don't even receive SpamCop reports and spammers can send messages before we take note of it and are able to suspend their accounts. Would you like to wake up in the morning and realize your server is down again because Lycos DDoS'd it once more ?? I don't ! Therefore I will not advertise with Lycos in the future or support this company and I recommend you all do the same. I mean imagine someone would burn down your house because there is a murderer living an apartment under you. How many legitimate sites will be slowed down by Lycos ? And how much damage will they cause to your company because one out of 300 customers sends spam without you knowing about it ? Remember that if you invest in their company they might use this money to attack YOUR servers.

    I will not advertise with them and if they ever attack my servers I will take legal steps against them. I do my best to prevent my customers from spamming but in most cases you can not stop a spammer before he sends spam. Lycos does not have the right to attack my servers and cause harm to all customers on that server just because a few guys do not keep to the rules.

    I am referring to this:
    http://www.lycos.co.uk/makelovenotspam/

  24. #24
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    I can see a need to crackdown on these punks ( spammers, hardcore or not ), but I to am not a fan of this new "screensaver". What will they think of next :/

  25. #25
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    The host will certainly see the site alot quicker.
    BTi-Hosting.co.uk High quality hosting, low low prices.
    One step ahead of the competition - Today IS tomorrow.
    FraudWise.Net - Fight the fraud!

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