Lycos Strikes Back?

[cacosapo]

ive just got brazillian version of this news:
http://www.theregister.com/2004/11/2...pe_spam_blitz/
Basically, Lycos will DDOS spammers computers as a revenge.

Its just to dumbest idea ive never see before.

You can contribute for Lycos DDOS just installing its ScreenSaver.

[|3lack|ce]

It's too bad they can't set the program to go ahead and ddos the servers - I guess there is an 'ethic' to combatting these annoying weasels, but I'm unsure if it will be successful. I like the idea of generating higher bills for them, but somehow I don't think that will stop them.

[cacosapo]

Its a dumb idea.

a) they decide who they will "attack". In fact they decide who YOU will attack. Install that and wait for being sued by attacking other ppl.
b) Altough they are "sure" that the source is a spammer, did they verify if inst a "victim", a zombie machine? imagine hundred thousand of computers attacking a pentagon secretary because a malware is installing there...
c) Due this is Christmas time, I bet that in no more than 2 days someone will get access to this network and control it to:
- strike back Lycos
- attack someone else
d) On most of countries, you cant attack others' side just because they had attacked you first. "self defense" just works for you life, not for your business...

[AxessTerminated]

intenet traffic, in general, will be slow as hell. if my illegal downloading slows down there's gonna be a lawsuit

A_T

[XTC46]

lol this is a horrible idea...anyone taking bet on when it gets hijacked and pointed back at lycos?

[karmine]

well if you didnt read on hideaway i believe lycos got ddosed like 4 hours later. they got GG'ed

[phishphreek]

Lycos Spammers DDOS site DDOS'd

Sure enough... seems that some CEOs are going to go out to their cars this afternoon and find 4 flat tires and a lot of broken windows...

[karmine]

lol, a ddos screensaver, hilarious all in its own. wonder how many of the SETI dudes were gonna replace their SSaver to ddos spammers

[XTC46]

lmfao...thats great. 4 hours, truely great.

[DjM]

Just goes to prove two wrongs don't make a right.

NEW YORK — The Web portal Lycos Europe on Friday terminated a spam-fighting campaign that had been criticized as a breach of Internet civility.The decision follows complaints from security experts that Lycos was acting as a vigilante and could potentially harm legitimate websites by distributing a screensaver program that aims to overwhelm what Lycos defines as spam servers.

Lycos spokesman Kay Oberbeck said the "Make Love Not Spam" campaign was always meant to be temporary. He said Lycos decided to stop it solely because the company felt satisfied the program had managed to raise awareness and spark discussion.

About 100,000 people had downloaded the free screensaver. When a computer running the screensaver was idle, the program sent bogus traffic to alleged spam sites designated by Lycos, increasing bandwidth costs for the sites' operators.

Those screensavers will no longer send such traffic because Lycos disabled the site list, Mr. Oberbeck said.

Lycos said it monitored the sites to ensure that its tactics did not disable websites entirely, although Internet monitoring company Netcraft said two such sites were knocked offline.

Lycos denied those reports, saying the two sites in question weren't on the target list on the day Netcraft checked. This could not be immediately verified independently.

The targets generally were not the servers used to do the actual mailings. Rather they were sites trying to sell products pitched by spam.

And the saga continues:

A new Trojan horse is passing itself off as Lycos' "Make Love Not Spam" screensaver. In a bizarre twist in the screensaver saga, Finnish security firm F-Secure said an e-mail attachment promising to be the screensaver is really a keylogger Trojan.

Now, you had to know that was going to happen.

Source

Cheers: