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11.17.06
200 Spammers Create 80 Percent Of Spam
 By
David Utter
Email users in North America and Europe who find themselves plagued with the incessant bombardment of spam can blame 200 spammers singled out by junk mail fighter Spamhaus for the unwanted messages.
The Spamhaus list of the world's worst hardcore spammers include people who push porn, pharmaceuticals, and stock scams into inboxes everywhere. Spamhaus estimated that as much as 80 percent of all the junk coming to inboxes starts with these top 200, and highlighted the top ten worst of the bunch.
A multi-aliased spammer known variously as Alex or Alexey operating out of the Ukraine tops the list. Spamhaus believes he works with a Russian spam gang called Pavka/Artofit, which utilizes a vast number of zombied PCs to churn out the junk mail.
Leo Kuvayev, number two on the list, has also worked with Pavka/Artofit. Kuvayev hit the ground running after a Massachusetts court handed down $37 million in fines in October 2005 against him for his operations in the US. He has yet to be caught and is rumored to be in Russia.
The dark side of American entrepreneurial spirit can be found in the form of Spamhaus' number three offender, Michael Lindsay of iMedia Networks. Spamhaus said Lindsay runs a "full-fledged spam-hosting operation" patronized by well-known spammers, who pay a high premium for the service.
Spamhaus named one other American as a top ten spammer. Jeffrey Peters is a convicted felon from Florida, currently under ten years probation for felony grand theft over $100,000. But Spamhaus said Peters runs a fake Russian ISP for spam operations, and that he specializes in forged documents.
Four of the top ten spammers are from Russia, and one from the Ukraine works with the Russians. Two are from the US, with the others from Israel, Hong Kong, and Canada. The Russian government could make a big impact on global spam if they attacked their home-based offenders more aggressively, but years of spam coming from Russian addresses has shown they have little interest in doing so.
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews, WebProNews, and InternetFinancialNews.
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