Attorney scam: Oak Spring Canola Farms

This is a type of scam email that I haven't seen before, in this case targetting lawyers.. especially dumb ones (and I certainly have seen a lot of those before).

From: Thomas Shepherd <oakspringcanolafarms@hotmail.com>
Date: 20 October 2010 02:40
Subject: Representation
   
Counsel,

The management of Oak Spring Canola Farms seek the urgent attention of your law firm in regards to a breach of sale contract. I seek your urgent intervention in this matter because of its urgency, please advise me if this is your area of law practice so i can bring you into the loop. Expect your urgent responds at your earliest time.

Yours Sincerely,

Thomas Shepherd

I don't even know what a Canola Farm is, but the IP address that this originates from is 74.210.20.6 in Canada which is blacklisted for spamming out another scam (via surriel.com)

From: "Bowen Culbert" <culbert.cosmetics@gmail.com>
Subject: JOB OFFER
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2010 22:09:02 -0400

  CULBERT COSMETICS COMPANY
                      Culbert Cosmetics Company
                        5 Sheddingdean Business Centre
                         Burgess Hill, SussexRH15 8QY =20
                          United Kingdom  =20
                      Phone:  1273906031
Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Mr. Bowen Culbert. I represent Culbert Cosmetics Company based here in United Kingdom. We need company representatives in Europe, America, and Canada. So If you are interested in this business transaction, forward to us your contact information so we can furnish you with the job description. Please if you are interested to work with us in good faith and honesty, get back to us by filling the information below:

Full Names..................
Full Address................
City........................
State.......................
Postal Code.................
Country.....................
sex.........................
Age.........................
Home Phone..................
Cell Phone..................
Fax.........................
Occupation..................
Company Name................

Very Respectfully,

Bowen Culbert
Managing Director
Culbert Cosmetics Company
5 Sheddingdean Business Centre
Burgess Hill, SussexRH15 8QY
United Kingdom 
culbert.cosmetics@gmail.com
Phone:  1273906031

"Culbert Cosmetics Company" is more obviously a scam, so clearly "Oak Spring Canola Farms" is too.

It turns out that scammin lawyers can be quite lucrative, but they do tend to follow established patterns. There's a pretty good repository of attorney email scams, some of which are quite hard to tell apart from genuine client enquiries.

xshopperjob.com mystery shopper scam

A mystery shopper scam to avoid, from a domain registered in Russia.

Date: 16 October 2010 15:48
Subject: Re: MS Shopper [$800/week]

Thank you for your interest in the MS Shopper position.
Our company conducts surveys and evaluates other companies in order to help them achieve their performance goals.
We offer an integrated suite of business solutions that enables corporations to achieve tangible results in the marketplace.

We get hired by other companies and act like customers to find out how they are handling their services in relation to their customers.
MS Shopping is the most accurate and reliable tool a business can use to gather information regarding their actual customer service performance at the moment of truth.
This moment of truth is not when the staff is on their best behavior because the boss is around - it is when they interact with customers during their normal daily routines.

This is where you, the MS Shopper, come in.
You pose as an ordinary customer and provide feedback of both factual observations (ex...the floor was free of debris)
and your own opinions (ex...I felt that the temperature in the establishment was too cold).

MS Shoppers must remain anonymous. You must act as a regular customer and be careful not to do anything that would reveal you as a shopper.
An inexperienced shopper could tip off the staff to his/her identity by asking for the manager's name for no clear or appropriate reason.
If you are going to be bringing someone with you on the shop, make sure you educate them about the process as well.
Beware that even whispers can be overheard by employees. If anyone notices you are a shopper,
you can bet that word will quickly spread around the establishment and you will get some of the best customer service in town.

No company can afford to have a gap between the promise of quality and its actual delivery, that's why leading corporations look to us,
the nation's premiere MS shopping and customer experience measurement company.

In order for a business to effectively compete in today's economy, they must be prepared to meet the challenge of increasing sales by:
* Retaining existing customers
* Acquiring new customers
* Creating word-of-mouth advocacy
* Improving customer loyalty

Once we have a contract to do so, you would be directed to the company or outlet, and you would be given
the funds you need to do the job(either purchase merchandise or require services), after which you would write a detailed report of your experience.

Examples of details you would forward to us are:
1) How long does it take to get served.
2) Politeness of the attendant.
3) Customer service professionalism.
4) Sometimes you might be required to upset the attendant, to see how they deal with difficult clients.

Then we turn the information over to the company executives and they will carry out their own duties in improving their services.
Most companies employ our assistance when people complain about their services, or when they feel there is a need for them to improve upon their customer service.
Our company partners with you to implement proven MS shop auditing and surveying strategies that provide critical information about customer experiences.

You will be paid a commission of $100 for every duty you carry out, and bonus on your transportation allowance.
Your task will be to evaluate and comment on customer service in a wide variety of restaurants, retail stores, casinos,
shopping malls, banks and hotels in your area.

Qualities of a good MS Shopper:
* Is 21 years of age or older
* Loves to go shopping
* Is fair and objective
* Is ON TIME
* Is very observant and able to focus on details
* Is fairly intelligent
* Has patience
* Is detail oriented
* Is practical
* Types well
* Is trustworthy
* Explains well in writing
* Is discreet
* Loves to learn
* Handles deadlines
* Has full internet access (at home or at work)

MS Shopping is fun and exciting but also must be approached very seriously and is definitely not for everyone.

If you are interested in applying for consideration as a MS Shopper do send in your information: Domiciano@xshopperjob.com
Full Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Phone Number:
Age:
Occupation:

As soon as we receive your information we will add you to our database and we will look for locations in your area that needs to be evaluated.

The possition is only available for United States.

Thank you,
Domiciano MECHOSO

The domain name is registered in Russia, contact details could well be fake:

Domain Name: XSHOPPERJOB.COM

Registrant:
    Beatles Steel
    Alexey Zhukov        (oloperz@usa.com)
    Novopeschanaya 56 8
    Moscow
    Moscow,145672
    RU
    Tel. +7.4999433354

Creation Date: 15-Oct-2010 
Expiration Date: 15-Oct-2011

Domain servers in listed order:
    ns2.reg.ru
    ns1.reg.ru

Administrative Contact:
    Beatles Steel
    Alexey Zhukov        (oloperz@usa.com)
    Novopeschanaya 56 8
    Moscow
    Moscow,145672
    RU
    Tel. +7.4999433354

Technical Contact:
    Beatles Steel
    Alexey Zhukov        (oloperz@usa.com)
    Novopeschanaya 56 8
    Moscow
    Moscow,145672
    RU
    Tel. +7.4999433354

Billing Contact:
    Beatles Steel
    Alexey Zhukov        (oloperz@usa.com)
    Novopeschanaya 56 8
    Moscow
    Moscow,145672
    RU
    Tel. +7.4999433354


All mail is handled by mx.yandex.ru in Russia, so this does look like a Russian operation. No surprises there.The email address is fairly well known for fraudulent activity too. Avoid.

nttemps.net / ntmps.net / ntmps.com recruitment scam

Net-Temps, Inc is a real company, these emails do not come from Net-Temps, Inc and follow on from a series of fraudulent emails pretending to be from this company. This time around the scammers appear to be using the domains nttemps.net and ntmps.net (update: they are also using ntmps.com)

These so-called jobs are usually money mule (money laundering) operations or some other criminal "back office" activity which should be avoided at all costs.

Date: 15 October 2010 16:48
Subject: Hiring (part-time)

Looking for a job? My name is Juliette Barnes, I am a recruiting manager of NetTemps Inc, a recruiting agency for direct-hire, contract, and freelance professionals within various professions.                          

Today I would like introduce some part-time and virtual office vacancies in the spheres of Advertising, Education, Engineering, Finance, Health care, Information technology, Media, Real estate and Transportation.                                       

If you are interested to learn more about the jobs offered, please get back to me, providing your name and contact number.                        

We are eager to help you find a better job and improve your career!         
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail me on:

e u r o p e @ n t m p s . n e t      [please delete spaces in the email address before sending it to us]    

Yours sincerely,                             
Juliette Barnes                     
NetTemps Inc                                 
======================================

Mail for these two domains is handled by 67.222.149.107 [BlueSquare Data, UK], nameservers are ns1.dollar-canada.com and ns1.nevoconsulting.net both hosted on 67.23.235.236 [HostDime, Orlando] which are also used by the domains lovestorybook.net and xpharmx.com.

Evil network: Specialist Ltd / Specialist-ISP-PI2 AS48691(194.28.112.0/22)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

[Updated] Evil network: Donstroy Ltd AS29557 (194.8.250.0/23)

UPDATE:  this IP range is now used by a completely different organisation, and malicious activity no longer exists and the block is safe to use. However, the post will remain up for research purposes.

Another network worth blocking, Donstroy Ltd appears to be a Latvia entity hosting in Moldova, closely affiliate with Sagade Ltd who are one of the most scummy networks around at the moment.

The WHOIS details show a tell-tale link to Sagade in the email address:

inetnum:         194.8.250.0 - 194.8.251.255
netname:         Donstroy-1
descr:           Donstroy Ltd.
country:         LV
org:             ORG-DL107-RIPE
admin-c:         JS1050
tech-c:          JS1050
status:          ASSIGNED PI
mnt-by:          RIPE-NCC-END-MNT
mnt-lower:       RIPE-NCC-END-MNT
mnt-by:          MNT-DONSTROY
mnt-routes:      MNT-DONSTROY
mnt-domains:     MNT-DONSTROY
source:          RIPE # Filtered

organisation:    ORG-DL107-RIPE
org-name:        Donstroy Ltd.
org-type:        OTHER
address:         Kalinina 19, 6, Bendery, Moldova
e-mail:          sagade95@gmail.com
mnt-ref:         MNT-DONSTROY
mnt-by:          MNT-DONSTROY
source:          RIPE # Filtered

person:          Juris Sahurovs
address:         Rezekne Darzu iela 21
phone:           +37120034981
nic-hdl:         JS1050
e-mail:          sagade95@gmail.com
source:          RIPE # Filtered

% Information related to '194.8.250.0/23AS29557'

route:           194.8.250.0/23
descr:           donstroy-route-1
origin:          AS29557
mnt-by:          MNT-DONSTROY
source:          RIPE # Filtered

Google's Safe Browsing diagnostics are not good:

Safe Browsing
Diagnostic page for AS29557 (ASNOVIFORUM)

What happened when Google visited sites hosted on this network?

    Of the 42 site(s) we tested on this network over the past 90 days, 2 site(s), including, for example, fastprosearch.com/, twilightsex.cz.cc/, served content that resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent.

    The last time Google tested a site on this network was on 2010-10-10, and the last time suspicious content was found was on 2010-10-10.

Has this network hosted sites acting as intermediaries for further malware distribution?

    Over the past 90 days, we found 10 site(s) on this network, including, for example, manoso.cz.cc/, noaos1.cz.cc/, sunporno.cz.cc/, that appeared to function as intermediaries for the infection of 31 other site(s) including, for example, business-standard.com/, ddl-blog.org/, onlyteensx.net/.

Has this network hosted sites that have distributed malware?

    Yes, this network has hosted sites that have distributed malicious software in the past 90 days. We found 22 site(s), including, for example, 194.8.251.0/, prostodomen.in/, globalvalidator.cz.cc/, that infected 215 other site(s), including, for example, business-standard.com/, renisyqaqir.freehostking.com/, hetivilesum.freehostking.com/.

A search against MyWOT reputations reveals a concentration of very bad sites (report here), the best thing to do is to block all traffic to 194.8.250.0 - 194.8.251.255 (194.8.250.0/23) and/or the domains listed below:

Girlongirllibido.info
Homeownersinsuranceratings.com
Testertestfree.org
Vmhostingboxx.org
Dscodec.com
Fastprosearch.com
Ttyur.com
Vlopw.com
Bmlsk.com
Bumzc.com
Fjoty.com
Fruuf.com
Hjoty.com
Nwsplt.com
Palcaug.com
Potyur.com
Uoptyr.com
Uprtx.com
Medicpillsana.com
Medicpillsbba.com
Medicpillsbia.com
Medicpillsbta.com
Medicpillscaa.com
Medicpillscea.com
Medicpillscha.com
Medicpillscia.com
Medicpillscka.com
Medicshopnas.net
Medicshopnds.net
Medicshopnks.net
Medicshopnts.net
Medicshopoes.net
Asemedic.net
Astmedic.net
Encmedic.net
Enmedic.net
Frmedic.net
Hismedic.net
Icmedic.net
Intmedic.net
Krmedic.net
Letmedic.net
Medicci.net
Medicdi.net
Medicfr.net
Medicha.net
Mediclg.net
Medicni.net
Medicnr.net
Medicpo.net
Medicpu.net
Medicri.net
Ajeslovshord.com
Akvodhhead.com
Alsodhesedhoujhd.com
Aniarioli.com
Askpressjame.com
Bejokohafder.com
Blackmodhersdep.com
Bodhlearkfil.com
Busyplakdovk.com
Cutyacttin.com
Deheverbejak.com
Dhadhaveopek.com
Dheyherevhole.com
Dovkbackbord.com
Fallanlot.com
Gavilaugddiri.com
Hadakcourse.com
Hojharedokd.com
Kameuspoukd.com
Losdsodemoss.com
Lovioinwdoli.com
Medpillsna1.com
Medpillsna2.com
Medpillsna3.com
Medpillsna4.com
Medpillsna5.com
Medpillsni1.com
Medpillsni2.com
Medpillsni3.com
Medpillsni4.com
Medpillsni5.com
Minanwaut.com
Offobjecdfamoly.com
Okchfudboy.com
Oslakdexampleas.com
Pajeukdolmaok.com
Posekipbrokj.com
Pukdraokclass.com
Redovksay.com
Resdlaujhmoss.com
Savsdadeschul.com
Sduigancdangi.com
Sliicrymuli.com
Stooddandwi.com
Suchjrikoh.com
Travilfuriwdin.com
Addsecovdtook.com
Aoutdonttdrii.com
Assiafull.com
Commoklakjuajemeak.com
Dalkplakdaor.com
Deachhodkear.com
Dhadledad.com
Dhohdhokjearly.com
Dhokjbroujhdmusd.com
Dojcourseleark.com
Domesdopdhousakd.com
Dopmedic.net
Dovardhohdhoh.com
Efimedic.net
Enemedic.net
Feetdoldakayvst.com
Femedic.net
Hamedic.net
Joldiplosd.com
Kodocedoldappear.com
Launflymost.com
Lederbojdhad.com
Letdourwere.com
Lodledellmek.com
Medshopcu1.com
Medshopcu2.com
Medshopcu3.com
Medshopcu4.com
Medshopcu5.com
Medshopde1.com
Medshopde2.com
Medshopde3.com
Medshopde4.com
Medshopde5.com
Muchplakdokly.com
Okcevhekvadch.com
Oldbesdjrik.com
Passourdu.com
Pocdurejudcold.com
Rockdomeacd.com
Rockroundsung.com
Sicondkniwgo.com
Slovkevvell.com
Soldmarkacte.com
Strovkuproad.com
Ukmedicineel.com
Ukmedicineho.com
Ukmedicineit.com
Vadchdeachmokd.com
Vekdhadjrov.com
Vhadreachmusoc.com
Vholevucemay.com
Vokdercarryjod.com
Vordeachsdud.com
Ydeamavturv.com
Advsecsmart.com
Digitall-soft.com
Extrafullprotection.com
Mypc-repair.com
Payforsec.com
Secsmartsuper.com
Smartsecadv.com
Smartsecsuper.com
Smartsecurityadvisor.com
Smartsupersecurity.com
Stable-soft.com
Supersecadvizor.com
Supersecurepay.com
Supersmartantivirus.com
Supersmartsec.com
Bbnhs.com
Bumzec.com
Ddleb.com
Drutp.com
Gasdda.com
Gradtz.com
Hewraq.com
Hgptd.com
Htresq.com
Krclear.com
Nadwq.com
Nmkop.com
Utrvc.com
Vbnrte.info
Kobqq.com
Jgtee.com
Jyiop.com
Mptim.com
Nhytx.com
Ptyre.com
Woptr.com
Yopte.com
Ypuii.com
Checkingassociateeditor.com
Bestcheckingconnect.com
Checking-associate-editor.com
Checking-associate.com
Checkingassociatemembership.com
Checkingconnectdata.com
Checkingconnectnow.com
Checkingconnectshop.com
Cogus.net
Gromz.net
Mochos.net
Zorter.net
Movies-celeb.info
Onlymoviesporn.info
Porn-video-4u.info
Pornyardmovies.info
Videostreamporn.info
Moviesfreestar.info
Nanocloudcontroller.com
Iliked.org
Yougoodvideo.net
Shloesandrooneys.com
1200kb.net
Banfieldsbest.com
Btp-tags.com
Doit-4-u.com
In-ta.net
Media-share.org
Mwcdirect.com
Pixel-pie.com
Planetsoldat.com
Sainser.com
Wnizip.com
Dsfungssdfg.com
Sbgfdfsggf.com
Sportstickets.tv
Sufdngsg.com
Missing-codecs.com
Missing-codecs.net
Missing-codecs.org
Vidscentral.net
Consp.net
Thestability.com
Traffcity.com
Polytech-electronics.net
Blackmaven.in
Blueace.in
Whiteace.in
Whiteoso.in
Whitewizard.in
Globalcloudbackup.com

position-nl.com fake job offer

A retread of this fake job offer, this time using the domains position-nl.com to solicit replies (there's also a position-gb.com and probably many other variants). Despite the claims, this job is most likely laundering stolen money and could lead to a criminal record.

Date: 8 October 2010 13:58
Subject: for CV #32
   
Building & Investment Company is pleased to offer you an excellent-paid
part-time vacancy for the position of Administrative Assistant(Representative).
You would work from the comfort of your home office or in our office, it would depend on your choice.

Our company is a large corporation that is building involved in a variety of activities
that include construction, realty management, investment sector, rental services etc.
Right now we are working on more than 10 objects around the world, primarily in Europe, United Kingdom and North America.
This is the ideal role for a highly organized and proactive administrator, looking to develop their career
with an established and successful company.
For the right candidate, there will be the opportunity to progress to Administrative Assistant(Representative).

Candidates for the job should possess excellent organizational skills as well as the ability to efficiently multi-task.
Ideal candidates have a strong focus on day-to-day operational excellence,
and a personal style that builds trust, and inspires loyalty.
Your duties will also include taking and entering orders,communicating with clients and partners, work with payments and information and creating mail shots.

Other duties of the Administrative Assistant(Representative) include, but are not limited to:
Incorporating effective priorities for the virtual office function
Administer day-to-day financial responsibilities for clients
Reporting online daily
Preparing brief summary reports, and weekly financial reports

To be considered for this position, you must have solid administration experience.
A good telephone manner is also essential.

Salary part-time: 5.000 euro/month plus bonuses.
Location: Holland

If you are interested, please reply to: natasha@position-nl.com with your latest CV.

Best regards,

Natasha Csereklye
Employment Manager

The domain was registered just today, the registration details are probably fake:

Domain name:             POSITION-NL.COM
Name Server:             ns3.nic.ru
Name Server:             ns4.nic.ru
Name Server:             ns8.nic.ru
Creation Date:           2010.10.08

Status:                  DELEGATED

Registrant ID:           OQKDBB9-RU
Registrant Name:         Fabio A Murgia
Registrant Organization: Fabio A Murgia
Registrant Street1:      Via Giovanni, 183
Registrant City:         Cardano
Registrant Postal Code:  21010
Registrant Country:      IT

Administrative, Technical Contact
Contact ID:              OQKDBB9-RU
Contact Name:            Fabio A Murgia
Contact Organization:    Fabio A Murgia
Contact Street1:         Via Giovanni, 183
Contact City:            Cardano
Contact Postal Code:     21010
Contact Country:         IT
Contact Phone:           +39 0 331 732700
Contact E-mail:          fabrinoz@europe.com

Registrar:               Regional Network Information Center, JSC dba RU-CENTER

A Netherlands company, with Italian contact details on the domain.. which is registered in Russia? I think not.

Update:  the domains uk-kbs.com and usa-kbs.com are also being used for the same fake job offer. Avoid

F35 Fighters.. going cheap!

The F35 is an advanced US built fighter that the UK may or may not buy to put on aircraft carriers that it may or may not build. These things cost £70 million a pop and given the current budget constraints, it looks likely that some or all of the order will be cut.

Fear not.. there's a way of getting F35's cheaper than the list price.. simply Google 'em and you'll get an ad saying:

F 35 Fighters Cheap
Best Value for F 35 Fighters.
Find NexTag Sellers' Lowest Price!
www.NexTag.co.uk

Problem solved! Simply go to a shopping comparison site. Apart from the fact that NexTag don't have such things in their inventories (they do have a scale model though.. whoo!). Indeed, NexTag does run an awful lot of crappy ads for products that they don't have.. so why does Google tolerate them? And how much do you have to pay to advertise a £70m aircraft anyway?

MS10-070 - don't panic.. on second thoughts.. PANIC

Those of you who know Microsoft patch levels probably already treat "Important" patches with a shrug, because the really important ones are always "Critical". So when Microsoft does an out-of-band patch only rated as "Important" then there's something not right going on.

Well, MS10-070 is one such patch, and to be brutally brief it means that IIS servers are vulnerable to an information disclosure attack.. very bad news if you are running IIS.

The ISC have more here, but be sure to read the comments.. because this one is looking like a complete fragging disaster zone..

"United Nation Bonded Warehouse Wales" scam

An obvious scam, but one that's really quite stupid:

From: AHMED SALEH ABDUL KHALEQ SLAEH ALAFIFI <info@khaliq.com>
Reply-To: khaliqalifi@iol.pt
Subject: ASSALAMUALAIKUM
 
From AHMED SALEH ABDUL KHALIQALIFI,.
United Nation Bonded Warehouse wales Branch.Office..........

What? Where? Actually, the UN does run warehouses, primarily for aid efforts (there's a list of jobs here) usually in areas suffering from disasters or war.. I don't think a Friday night in Swansea counts. But a bonded warehouse is not the same thing at all..

SALAM,

Dried sausage to you, too.

This is AHMED SALEH ABDUL KHALIQALIFI ,  Presently stationed with the possition of  assistant Manager as a trusted store-keeper herein United Nation Bonded WareHouse Wales Branch ..Office, Division in South West of  Great Brintain  . I will like to share some very vital information that would bring some good financial returns to us in just a few weeks or days depending on how fast we pursue the matter.I am seeking your assistance to evacuate unclaimed valuable property to your safe custody, as long as I can be assured that it will be safe in your care until i complete my service here

Why do I think that "trusted" is not the right word when you are basically offering me something that you have stolen? And Wales is in the "South West of  Great Brintain"? That's somebody who has a very badly spelled atlas that they don't really understand. Oh yes, and if you're in Wales, why is the sending IP address 110.159.18.181 in Malaysia?

This may not be the best medium to make this kind of contact because of the numerous scam offers transmitted through the Internet, but it is all I have access to for now.

Well, I'm glad you pointed that out because I totally believe that it's not a scam now. Tell you what, Wales is a couple of hours drive.. why don't I pop over with a van or something?

I will be very grateful if you can give me the opportunity to discuss this matter with you by assuring me that you will not use any part of it against me in anyway, I hope you understand my limitations here. I will await a mail from you.

What. like publishing your pathetic scamming effort onto teh interwebs?

Sincere Regards,

AHMED SALEH ABDUL KHALIQALIFI.

I think you need to double check the meaning of "sincere.."

position-gb.com / position-west.com fake job offer

Part of a long series of fake job offers, this one uses the domains position-gb.com and position-west.com to solicit replies. In this case "bank account operations" is money laundering, "transportation and logistics" is most likely a parcel reshipping scam and "private enterprise service" could be one of a number of criminal activities. Avoid.

Date: 24 September 2010 12:56
Subject: Re: CV 62

Greetings

I am a manager of the HR department of a large multinational company.

Our enterprise is connected with a great number of various activities, like:
-property
- bank account operations
- transportation and logistics
- private enterprise service
- etc.

We need employees in Europe:
- salary 2.500 euro + bonus
- 1 - 2 working hours per day

- free timetable


If our offer is interesting for you email us the required information: Chandra@position-gb.com
Name:
Surname:
City:
E-mail:
Telephone Number:



Note! We are searching Europeans only!

Evil network: VLine Ltd / VLINERU2-NET AS39150 (109.196.128.0/20)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

FirearmsForYou.com and the Chinese connection

Automated link exchange requests are annoying, but usually easily dealt with by binning them. This idiot decided to send me the same spam 25 times..

From: James <linkmanager@firearmsforyou.com>
Subject: Link Exchange Proposal from FirearmsForYou.com

Hello Webmaster,

I am seeking out possible link partners to offer as a resource to our site's visitors. I've found your website http://www.dynamoo.com and its information and advice to be a great service and I am interested in exchanging links with you.

Please consider adding our link to your site on the following page:
http://www.dynamoo.com/orange/links.htm

Our linking details:

Anchor text: Guns Online

URL: http://www.firearmsforyou.com/

Description: Buy guns online from a trusted source. Firearms For You has the largest selection of firearms and accessories.

[snip]

Guns Online Buy guns online from a trusted source. Firearms For You has the largest selection of firearms and accessories.

Your link will be added in the best category here http://www.firearmsforyou.com/resources/index.html

Please send me your site details and I will add your link as soon as possible.

I hope for an early and positive response from you.

Best Regards,
James
FirearmsForYou.com
9831 E. Bell Road Suite 110
Scottsdale, AZ 85260

Note: If you would like not to receive any further communications from me, please paste this link into your browser: http://www.firearmsforyou.com/resources/unsubscribe.html?id=[snip]

Or simply respond to this email with Remove as the subject.

OK, he's an idiot who sells assault rivals, but Scottsdale is over 5000 miles away, so I feel quite safe calling "James" (if that is his name) an idiot.

Now, if Americans want to take pot shots at each other with military grade weapons then it is up to them, pro-gun people will argue that it's their constitutional right to bear arms as American citizens.

But dig a little deeper, and these emails originate from 202.181.174.45 in Hong Kong.. which is part of China.. who are Communists, remember? It all looks a bit un-American to me..

The incredibly dangerous world of browser prefetch

Perhaps I've been living under a rock, but this apparently has been a suicidally stupid feature built into Firefox for some time, but it seems to be seldom used.

It started with a short spam apparently advertising a fairly well known black hat forum for hackers and illicit trades. It's not the sort of place that would choose to advertise itself though (it is strictly by invitation only), so quite possibly this is a Joe Job by one set of black hatters against another.

Now I guess that many recipients will have done the same thing, and typed the name of the site into Google to find out about it.. under the assumption that they'll find something that doesn't involve visiting the spamvertised site itself. But if you're using Firefox (and this possibly applies to IE8 and IE9 too, then the following message pops up:

Secure Connection Failed

-----------.com:443 uses an invalid security certificate.

The certificate is not trusted because it is self signed.

(Error code: sec_error_untrusted_issuer)

It could be a problem with the server's configuration or it could be someone trying to impersonate the server.

If you have connected to this server successfully in the past the error may be temporary and you can try again later.

Right at this point I kicked myself because I thought I had accidentally clicked through. But no... the certificate error was showing on the Google search page and I hadn't clicked through at all.. so why was Google trying to load the page and showing the HTTPS error because of the invalid certificate?

The answer lies in prefetch - a combination of a tag on the site, Google and the default browser configuration meant that the browser tried to automatically load content from the bad site just by Googling for something.

Link prefetching (and how to turn it off) is explained in this FAQ or this HOWTO guide.. if you are using a Mozilla based browser then go and turn if off NOW by going into about:config and setting network.prefetch-next to false.

So why is it so dangerous? Have there been any cases of malware using link prefetching to spread? Not as I know.. although it might be theoretically possible. The danger is that you have just revealed your IP address without knowing it..

Let's look at a particular scenario where this can be used. Let's say the attacker is targetting a victim who is using an unidentifiable email address, and the attacker wants to find that victim's IP to tie them down to a location or organisation. In this scenario, the victim is not stupid.. they don't click on links in spam, they don't reply to untrusted messages, never send read receipts and they don't load external images in their mail client.. but the attacker uses social engineering to send an email with details that the victim might Google (for example a telephone number). The victim may then search for references on Google and even without clicking on anything, the prefetch may reveal their IP address.

Alternatively, prefetch could be used to download illegal content onto a target machine without the victim knowing about it, or there are probably several other ways in which it can be abused.

So it's hard to tell if the original spam was a Joe Job, or someone using prefetch to collect IP addresses for evil purposes. But I'll bloody well keep the prefetch switched off in future..

"hello / how are you?" mystery spam

I'm probably not alone in receiving a shedload of spam with the subject "hello" and the only content of "how are you?" A quick look at my spam filters shows hundreds of these with a small number getting through, presumably because filters are having a hard time blocking on this little data.

It's hard to be sure exactly what it is, but it reminds me the the mystery "podmena traffica test" spam from last year that appeared to be a widescale enumeration of mail systems that allowed spoofing, and those that blocked it. So, this could well be something similar.. an enumeration attempt to see which mailboxes DON'T reject a tiny, simple message like this, and then to use that data in the future to target those mailboxes.

"OK", you may be asking.. "why would you do that if you have the almost unlimited computing power of a botnet at your hands? Why would you need to be selective in your spamming when it does cost you anything?"

One good reason to attack only valid mailboxes with spam and not go for a scattergun "directory harvesting" attack is that mail spam filters specifically look for directory harvesting attacks and then block them and use the data to identify the characteristics of the spam attack. By acting more stealthily, it might be possible to avoid detection for longer and get a higher deliverability rate for spam.

Well, that's a theory anyway.. the best that I can come up with. Any ideas?

Added: here's another idea - the spammer could be looking for vulnerable mail servers to exploit later, this is  a data collection phase to be followed by something evil. Or it could just be a weird prank, of couse.

Networking4Africa.com - scam, spam or Joe Job?

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Krebs pwnage

Brian Krebs is on the trail of some questionable activities involving an outfit called ePassporte. Now, for those of you who don't know who Brian Krebs is, he's a former Washington Post journalist.. and when he publishes things, things happen.. so the articles are always worth a read if you're interested in information security.

What caught my eye though was this part: "Elias declined to give me his e-mail address, saying I should be able to find it if I really were an investigative reporter."

You can probably guess what happens next..

Evil network: MAXHOSTING Services, kfppp.com and the BBC Radio 3 compromise

MAXHOSTING are a fairly prolific evil network that I profiled last month, so it isn't a huge surprise to see that the evilness continues as normal.

But one thing that made MAXHOSTING stand out today was their involvement in an apparent compromise on the BBC's website, as reported by The Register.  Google have labelled the BBC's Radio 3 subsite as being potentially dangerous:

Safe Browsing
Diagnostic page for bbc.co.uk/radio3

What is the current listing status for bbc.co.uk/radio3?

    Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer.

    Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 2 time(s) over the past 90 days.

What happened when Google visited this site?

    Of the 15 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 4 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2010-09-09, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2010-09-09.

    Malicious software is hosted on 1 domain(s), including kfppp.com/.

    1 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including z145235.infobox.ru/.

    This site was hosted on 1 network(s) including AS2818 (BBC).

Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?

    Over the past 90 days, bbc.co.uk/radio3 did not appear to function as an intermediary for the infection of any sites.

Has this site hosted malware?

    No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.

How did this happen?

    In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message.

So, what do we know about kfppp.com? Well, it was registered one day ago via black hat domain registrar BIZCN to a fake recipient, and is hosted on a server at 77.78.240.253, which is in Maxhosting's range.. so obviously this is nothing good.

The trouble is that the BBC site seems clean and it is not apparent where the infection is coming from, but the BBC site does carry ad banners for non-UK visitors, and it seems possible that a malvertisement somewhere is to blame. Although Google does sometimes make false positives, this particular report is very specific and I tend to believe that the BBC Radio 3 site is (or was) compromised with malicious code.

A full breakdown of current sites, IP addresses and MyWOT reputations can be downloaded from here.

The best advice is to completely block traffic to 77.78.239.x and 77.78.240.x (or better still, the 77.78.224.0/19 parent block), or block traffic to the domains below.

Divambee35.net
Eagen85.net
Forceclub-us.com
Forceclub-us.net
Indep29.com
Investbabaika.com
Janoodle6.net
Levelin29-online.com
Levelin29-web.com
Levelin29.biz
Levelin29.com
Levelin29.net
Levelin29.org
Levelin29.us
Secsslup.com
Trazi.in
Zabil.in
Search-static.org
Vostokgear.org
The-funny-world.info
Francecore.com
Genreystick.com
Grand-vitaro-club.com
Odistanyachts.com
Statxonline.com
Xsbot.net
Planopetroleumteam.com
Acunetxweb.net
Gvist.org
Gvistello.net
Dottasink.net
Nowisisdudescars.com
Vancouvererrorsonfile.com
Whereisdudescars.com
Zettapetta.net
Google-server09.info
Google-server10.info
Google-server11.info
Google-server12.info
Google-server14.info
Google-server29.info
Google-server31.info
Google-server41.info
Google-server42.info
Google-server43.info
Jhuiuhxfgxhlfkjhjth.info
Jhuiuhxfgxhtfkjhjth.info
Jhuluhxfgxhlfkjhjth.info
Top-teen-porn.info
Traxbax.com
Gumile.in
Pro100-soft.net
Geerht.com
Ruslan7777.com
Hyporesist.com
Installs.tv
Thefriends-place.info
Thefunny-world.info
Easy-answers.info
Theeasy-answers.info
Vstils.ru
Clickwebanalitick.com
Hotporncatalog.com
Ns3emeringo.com
Thevipbuyconterst.com
Youngirlsactions.com
Ciougmxehgjesk.com
Kingdol.com
Pcf-osow.com
Pw2.info
Reservus.com
Server90.org
Homesiteuk.com
Narmedic.org
Pp24.biz
403403.net
Firmar.org
Cebere.net
Cebere.org
Ceberz.net
Ceberz.org
Ceterz.biz
Eccinput.com
Faststat.biz
Mainstatserver.com
Bestviewbar.net
Thestatserver.com
Angelx.info
Deltav.info
Fantasyv.info
Fantasyx.info
Francisx.info
Freel.info
Freev.info
Jeffreyl.info
Lmailing.info
Millionsincomingfrom.biz
Weaponx.info
Xcorps.info
Checkege.ru
Otvetege.ru
Sdalege.ru
Stylysxvk.ru
Vkxstile.ru
1-aa.com
Atringroup.com
Awejkgf.com
Winterleaf.org
Free-pac.net
Tsbd1984.com
Fornaticumlili.biz
Dwnld0020.com
Spmfb2299.com
Thephotos-galleries.info
Hosting-backup.org
Darksiti.net
Asmatrin.com
Mvk.net.ru
Mvk.net.ru
Mynewspages.com
Newsdownloads.cn
Nvk.net.ru
Nvk.net.ru
Rsite.net.ru
Rsite.net.ru
Supercarsinfo.net
Vkhost.net.ru
Vkhost.net.ru
Webvk.net.ru
Webvk.net.ru
Sec-stats.org
Eu-analytics.com
Google-stat.org
Auto-russo-trah.com
55echosend.com
66kooum.com
Avilantup.com
Bytrin.com
Club-world-auto.org
Erityng.com
Govenablog.org
Grebtiklop.com
Hercegovinablog.org
Horsebloggovena.org
Horseblogovena.org
Horsegovena.org
Janesblog.org
Nikranox.org
Roxenda.com
Zrefkilops.com
Activateoursoft.com
Graymageds.com
Orangeosol.com
Yellowaven.com
3423254353446.org
Myteen2011.com
Onrpg-cdn.com
Sed-machinery.com
Helpsupport.biz
Connectionsupport.org
Cansbass.com
Cheni.in
Coani.in
Decdo.in
Jaddf.com
Baffyko.com
Ddret.com
Fgtre.com
Gddff.com
Kkrrn.com
Poiiu.com
Rtyyv.com
Ssadf.com
Ssweq.com
Yyeed.com
Yyutr.com
Ghdre.com
Kvxxr.com
Rchjj.com
Krnnt.com
Kvccg.com
Rcggu.com
Rcsss.com
Wrrrt.com
1host4me.ru
Fun-gsm.ru