[vox-tech] spam current events

[Peter Jay Salzman]

On Tue 12 Sep 06,  4:58 PM, Bill Kendrick <nbs at sonic.net> said:
> 
> Way back in August, Pete wrote:
> > i'm getting hammered with email containing text designed to trick bayesian
> > filters.
> <snip>
> > the gif image itself is mostly white with a few colored "threads" here and
> > there.
> 
> I finally took a closer look at one of these.  (Using Mutt, I never notice
> the GIF attachments, and don't ever view them.)
> 
> If you look at the GIF in a browser or GUI email client, you'll actually see
> some message.  That is, text that's been written into the image.
> (Not unlike a fax, or a scan of a page from a book.)
> 
> The one I looked at was some stupid "look out for this cool stock" crap.
> What they're doing is sending an animated GIF.  The first (few) frame(s) of
> the GIF are mostly-white, with some gibberish (probably to get around some
> anti-spam tools?)
> 
> The final frame -- and, obviously, the GIF does not loop -- is the actual
> spam message.
> 
> So yeah, the text is gibberish, and if you look at the GIF in a more basic
> viewer app. (one that doesn't handle animated GIFs, and only shows you the
> first frame, and not the final frame -- XV for example), you'll just see
> mostly-white, and scratch your head: "what the hell was the point of sending
> me that?"
> 
> :)

good sleuth work.  from the ferocity of the number i've been getting, it
seemed more like a virus than spam.  that spammer has some awesome
connectivity.  i hope he gets shut down quickly.  they've definitely
decreased, but i'm still getting multiple a day.

pete

-- 
How VBA rounds a number depends on the number's internal representation.
You cannot always predict how it will round when the rounding digit is 5.
If you want a rounding function that rounds according to predictable rules,
you should write your own.
              -- MSDN, on Microsoft VBA's "stochastic" rounding function

Peter Jay Salzman, email: p at dirac.org web: http://www.dirac.org/p    
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