Too much information on SPAM and viruses? By Peter M. Abraham November 2003 Here are some of the articles I came across in the past 30 days dealing with SPAM and virus issues... sometimes I read too much, and sometimes I wonder if there is just too much information.  Yet, they say "an informed consumer..." October 20:  One in 10 spams pushes drugs - Online 'pharmacies' could be a serious risk to health. Spam promoting medical treatments accounts for more than 10 per cent of junk email and is creating a "potent menace" to the health of UK surfers. October 21:  Asian spammers 'hijack broadband PCs'  - A UK security firm says spammers based in Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan are turning vulnerable home and small business PCs in Western countries into spam relays. October 22:  Chinese Virus Crises Mean Trouble for U.S. - ''Computer viruses are like true biological viruses,'' says Belthoff. ''You may have a strong pocket of high infection somewhere in the world and the likelihood of it spread is really high now because we're all so interconnected. If one area of the world isn't so security aware, it will cause problems for the rest of the world, as well. October 23:  U.S. Senate approves ANTI-SPAM Bill - Fines as high as $3 million could be imposed for kinds of illegal spam. October 24:  Experts predict new virus rampage - A program that exploits a software vulnerability Microsoft recently described could spell trouble for companies that haven't quickly patched their system, security experts said this week. October 26:  California wins first antispam judgment - California won its first antispam judgment when a court fined a marketing firm $2 million for sending out millions of unsolicited e-mails telling people how to spam, the state's attorney general said. October 29:  Texas University Calculates Financial Benefits Of Its Spam, Virus Defenses - Spam has been particularly costly. Wagner says the hospital and research institution's 13,000 employees would have received up to 25,000 spam messages per day had it not been for a spam-prevention service implemented earlier this year. October 30:  UK Lawmakers We Will Extradite Overseas Spammers - British lawmakers plan to use a new tactic to stop the torrent of junk e-mail spam that floods in from overseas: extradite the mass-mailers and bring them to trial in the United Kingdom. October 31:  E-Mail Virus Hits Corporate Users, Heads for Homes - A new e-mail virus started spreading to corporate computers on Friday and is headed for home computers... November 3:  Data Attacks Strike Spam Fighters - Spammers decided to take Guilmette down because he belonged to a small group of Internet vigilantes dedicated to wiping out junk e-mail, and they used a devious tool to do it. November 3:  Dangerous Mimail variant knocks over anti-spam sites - AV vendors are warning of the spread of a dangerous worm, called Mimail-C, which offers racy pictures but delivers only fresh misery for credulous Windows users. Another variant, Mimail-D, which attempts to DDoS anti-spam sites, is also causing considerable Net disruption. November 3:  E-Mail Under Attack Again as Mimail Virus Spreads - A new e-mail virus that exploits vulnerabilities in the Outlook program has been infecting computers worldwide since Friday, affecting both business and home users. November 4:  Sex and the City worms promise illicit thrills - Instead of delivering illicit thrills, the emails are far more likely to carry one of two variants of a new email worm, called Torvil-A and Torvil-B). November 4:  'DDoS' Attacks Still Pose Threat to Internet - DDoS (pronounced "DEE-Doss") attacks are one of the simplest ways to cause online havoc but one of the most difficult to defend against. Hackers snare "zombie" computers -- usually unprotected home or business PCs -- and force them to send bundles of data to their targets to try to make them crash. November 6:  Telewest blames viruses for lost broadband users - The cable company has won thousands more broadband users, but says that virulent code is partly responsible for scaring others away. November 10:  Spam harmed economy more than hackers, viruses - Spam caused more economic damage than hackers and viruses last month, despite indications that the amount of unwanted e-mail actually declined. November 11:  Spam spike signals more junk e-mail - An e-mail security firm has warned that spammers may be increasing their assault on Web users, after detecting a rise in the amount of unsolicited junk messages sent across the Internet. November 12:  'Citibank' email carries a virus - An email purporting to be from Citibank carries a Trojan virus that plants a back door on an infected computer, allowing a hacker to use the machine as a channel for other activities on the Internet. November 12:  Zombie Machines Fueling New Cyber-Crime Wave - The rapid growth of broadband home computer connections may be inadvertently fueling what police suspect could be the start of a new crime wave -- cyber-blackmail. November 12:  Singapore calls for global Internet chatroom crackdown - Singapore urged Internet access providers to follow Microsoft's lead in clamping down on unregulated chatrooms to prevent them from becoming havens for sex predators. November 12:  Intelligence Experts Comb Web for Terror Clues - Cyber investigators are scouring the World Wide Web for clues on any future suicide bomb attacks, deploying satellites and other high-tech wizardry to hone in on suspicious Web surfing activity. Thank you.