Terry Zink: Security Talk
Discussing Internet security in (mostly) plain English
Video: Hire the hackers!
I found this 18 minute video on Ted today. Misha Glenny takes a look at hackers, who they are,...
Author: tzink Date: 09/13/2011
The most commonly used programming language is also the most vulnerable
Earlier this week, Tiobe Software released a report showing its Tiobe index: The TIOBE Programming...
Author: tzink Date: 09/13/2011
I was challenged in my response
Like many other people, I am not a fan of challenge/response filters. If I ever get an email...
Author: tzink Date: 09/09/2011
Are compromised accounts getting better or worse?
I decided to take a look at the total amount of outbound spam incidents that we have discovered over...
Author: tzink Date: 09/08/2011
How to whitelist a sender for inbound mail
This post will contain some generic information about whitelisting, but also some specific...
Author: tzink Date: 09/07/2011
Browser market share–who’s visiting me?
An article on Geekwire today reports on Internet browser usage amongst the various population. ...
Author: tzink Date: 09/02/2011
The flip side of outbound spam control
Over the past few years, I have written numerous blog posts about controlling outbound spam. ...
Author: tzink Date: 08/31/2011
How Win32/FakeSysdef Corrupts Your Computer
Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing group, which publishes the biannual Security Intelligence Report...
Author: tzink Date: 08/29/2011
What do phishers eat?
I was walking around town yesterday and swung into Ben & Jerry’s with a friend of mine, and saw...
Author: tzink Date: 08/29/2011
The new breed of spam
I came across the following spam message today. It was sent through a compromised account, and...
Author: tzink Date: 08/26/2011
Spam is on the decline; what are the implications?
Previously, I wrote that the total amount of spam that we are seeing has seen a significant decline...
Author: tzink Date: 08/24/2011
Protecting yourself from spear phishing
One of the big trends this year is spear phishing. These are phish attacks that are frequently...
Author: tzink Date: 08/22/2011
What is this Google+?
A few weeks back I voiced my reaction to Google+: Meh. A commenter wrote that with 10 million...
Author: tzink Date: 08/16/2011
Spam continues to drop
Below is a chart that shows the amount of inbound mail that we see, both spam and non-spam, over the...
Author: tzink Date: 08/15/2011
Twitter’s real time abuse detection
Last week I mentioned that Twitter was going to introduce their own URL shortner,...
Author: tzink Date: 08/15/2011
The Great Firewall of China
One of the financial blogs I visit once in a while is Minyanville, where I can watch the...
Author: tzink Date: 08/12/2011
Would you block bit.ly if they cleaned up after themselves?
This post doesn’t have much to do with bit.ly but I want to continue my URL redirector meme and keep...
Author: tzink Date: 08/11/2011
Why silently dropping mail is a bad idea
As someone who is responsible for filtering mail, there are a number of options that we have when it...
Author: tzink Date: 08/09/2011
Should using bit.ly get you blocked?
About a month and a half ago, I wrote a post in response to another post that was written by another...
Author: tzink Date: 08/09/2011
Hotmail’s spam percentage declines significantly
I was reading an article on PC Mag today and he reviews Hotmail’s claims that it has made...
Author: tzink Date: 08/08/2011
Five years of blogging!
Five years ago today, I started this blog (and ~seven years ago I started fighting spam). I’ve...
Author: tzink Date: 07/24/2011
New Netflix phishing scam
The following phishing scam from hackers crossed my screen the other day, below is a screenshot:...
Author: tzink Date: 07/21/2011
Mozilla to corporate users – F.O.A.D
Last month, I read Ed Bott’s article on ZDNet about Mozilla’s stance regarding its supporting of...
Author: tzink Date: 07/21/2011
Gmail’s new anti-phishing defense
A couple of weeks ago, Gmail released a new feature to boost its anti-phishing capabilities....
Author: tzink Date: 07/19/2011
Am I getting too old for this?
Here’s a weird story. Yesterday, I was driving back home after watching the latest Harry Potter...
Author: tzink Date: 07/18/2011
Phishing protection… what can you do for me?
One of the most common requests I get regarding anti-spam protection (from customers) is surrounding...
Author: tzink Date: 07/14/2011
My thoughts on Google+
From a friend who posted it on imgur: And now from xkcd: My own experience with...
Author: tzink Date: 07/13/2011
Taking down botnets is good / taking down botnets is bad
Did you ever get the feeling that whenever you read about security topics, you can get opposite...
Author: tzink Date: 07/08/2011
New botnet is indestructible / no botnet is indestructible
Computerworld posted a story this week about a new botnet, TDL-4, that is virtually...
Author: tzink Date: 07/08/2011
Stating the obvious – human errors are the weak link in security
I frequently read publications like Bloomberg and Reuters and when I come across an article relating...
Author: tzink Date: 06/30/2011
No, using bit.ly does not get you blocked
Over at Word to the Wise, Steve Atkins has a good post on URL redirectors. URL shorteners take...
Author: tzink Date: 06/28/2011
LulzSec calling it quits
Over the weekend, Internet hacking group LulzSec, responsible for breaking into such companies as...
Author: tzink Date: 06/28/2011
Handling the problem of outbound bulk mail
When it comes to email, I am our customers’ best friend. I really am. I’m the good guy...
Author: tzink Date: 06/22/2011
Handling the problem of inbound bulk mail
Over the years, our spam filtering has gotten to be pretty good. We don’t see a lot of...
Author: tzink Date: 06/21/2011
New hacking technique
I have been gone for the past two weeks, first at MAAWG in San Francisco and then out on holidays...
Author: tzink Date: 06/20/2011
Clearing up some data on comparisons
I was reading Trend Micro’s blog the other day where they take aim at Microsoft’s claims for its new...
Author: tzink Date: 06/02/2011
Why it’s important to read the Terms and Conditions
I’m watching the first episode of South Park Season 15 on the web (viewer discretion advised…...
Author: tzink Date: 06/02/2011
Solving the spam problem
Last week, I read Ed Falk’s blog post on The Spam Diaries where he commented on a possible solution...
Author: tzink Date: 05/27/2011
Well, well, well. How the mighty have fallen.
You know, over the past few days I’ve been reminded of an episode of South Park. It’s an...
Author: tzink Date: 05/25/2011