Four more Internet service providers will start charging banks, e-commerce sites and other large e-mail senders for guaranteed delivery.In deals expected to be announced Thursday, Goodmail Systems Inc. is expanding its CertifiedEmail program to Comcast Corp., Cox Communications Inc., Time Warner Cable Inc.’s Road Runner and Verizon Communications Inc. Yahoo Inc. and Time Warner Inc.’s AOL became inaugural participants last year.Individuals, businesses and organizations will be able to continue sending messages for free, but they risk finding those missives caught in increasingly aggressive spam filters. Read more
Read More… (From Email Spam News)

I notice quite often that when people refer to spam (either inside our company or on the outside), they often say “SPAM.” This has often confused me because as far as I know, SPAM is not an acronym and doesn’t stand for anything, it’s only slang for Unsolicited Commercial Email. Perhaps it is time to create an official acronym: Super Peculiar Annoying Mail.
Read More… (From Terry Zink’s Anti-spam Blog)

Two weeks ago, I wrote about how spyware maker Zango is suing PC Tools for labeling them as spyware and removing them from users’ computers.

The latest news from SunbeltBLOG is that their request for a temporary restraining order has been denied by the court (pdf, 9 pages). (Link via Spam Notes.)

To summarize the court papers: The latest version of PC Tools’ Spyware Doctor program gives Zango the most benign rating available, but still lists them. Zango says this isn’t good enough because older versions of Spyware Doctor are still available, and because Zango doesn’t want to be listed at all. Zango admits they distributed harmful malware before, but says they’ve gotten better since they were fined $3M by the FTC.

The court agrees that Zango will suffer harm to its reputation if it PC Tools continues to label them as a “Potentially Unwanted Application” but disagrees that the harm is significant enough to warrant a TRO, especially given that PC Tools has already taken steps to mediate the harm.

More significantly and here are the best parts the court has stated that it thinks that Zango is unlikely to win their case on the merits (page 6).

But most significantly, on page 8, the court rules that the public interest favors the defendant. That is, “it is in the public interest to allow companies similar to Defendant to be able to exercise their judgment and block potential malware applications”
Read More… (From The Spam Diaries)

In an attempt to protect its customers from spam, Verizon Wireless has filed a lawsuit against Nevada-based I-VEST Global and various “John Does” alleging they sent unsolicited commercial electronic messages to … via Wireless Week
Read More… (From Email Spam News)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Think that commercial software you just bought has been adequately tested and is ready for deployment? Think again.
Read More… (From Network World on Security)

“In all cases, the recipients to whom the e-mails were sent had made an explicit “opt-in”

Even when prospective recipients give permission for advertisers to send e-mails, Internet Service Providers in the United States route about 13 percent of the messages to “junk” folders, according to a new … via Clickz
Read More… (From Email Spam News)

thank snoop
Read More… (From Spamusement)

NetIQ announced Tuesday an upgrade to its security information and event-management software that adds user-access monitoring, real-time auditing and threat detection.
Read More… (From Network World on Security)

Security has been a bit of a black art at Google Inc. Unlike rival Microsoft Corp., which publishes detailed information on its monthly patches and has openly evangelized the steps it takes to secure software, Google has generally been quiet when it comes to talking about security and it has kept the team that keeps Google’s Web sites secure under wraps.
Read More… (From Network World on Security)

Microsoft Corp. will participate in a meeting later this month with vendors and organizations that are backing several different identity management systems, an indication that cooperation between the software giant and its peers is improving.
Read More… (From Network World on Security)

Web sites running Microsoft Corp.’s Web server software are twice as likely to be hosting malicious code as other Web sites, according to research from Google Inc.
Read More… (From Network World on Security)

Great piece from The Guardian’s Technology editor about the dangers of working in an office, having a telephone line and living in a place swarming with bad PR: clipped from www.charlesarthur.comMaybe its just me, or maybe its the swarm of…
Read More… (From loose wire blog)

EIQnetworks announced Monday a version of its SecureVue security-information management software that integrates views to offer a comprehensive look of an entire organizations security.
Read More… (From Network World on Security)

Mozilla Corp. is considering adding a tool to Firefox 3.0 that would automatically block Web sites thought to harbor malicious downloads, but the company’s security chief refused to spell out details, saying Mozilla is “not ready to talk about the feature.”
Read More… (From Network World on Security)

IronPort Systems on Tuesday announced a high-performance model in its family of e-mail security appliances designed for high-volume enterprises and ISPs.
Read More… (From Network World on Security)

Analyst Joe Stewart informs me that these are being sent by at least two different groups, using two different approaches. His analysis of the BBB phish describes the phish in detail. In short, the trojan connects to Internet Explorer and steals everything it can get ahold of. Over 145 Mb of data has been collected from over 1400 victims so far.
Read More… (From The Spam Diaries)

A new Lyris deliverability report shows content isn’t a major reason ISP spam filters deliver your messages to your recipients’ junk folders or block them outright. via Clickz
Read More… (From Email Spam News)