文档介绍：The spam economy: the convergent spam and virus threats
Sophos
August 2004
SUMMARY
Spammers, virus writers and hackers were once munities with distinct
motivations. However, the ess of spam has brought the three together in an
underground economy with a single purpose: to make money from unsolicited
email. This paper examines how the convergence of the spam and virus threats is
,
d developing a new spam economy. It details the level of protection that businesses
need bat the threats, and demonstrates how Sophos can help keep
organizations spam- and virus-free. A glossary of spammers’ tricks and related
terms is included at the end of the paper.
Introduction
The spammers’ goal is simple – to make money from mercial
email, either from their own scams or products, or on behalf of other parties, such
as porn or gambling sites. With more and anizations deploying anti-
spam protection, plishing this goal has e much harder for spammers
and has led to the emergence of an elaborate industry that constantly develops,
tests and adapts new tactics to defeat anization’s filters – something virus
writers have been doing for years.
According to security firm Spammers are turning to various illegitimate providers more often to meet the
Sandvine, “Many service
providers report an upsurge in demand for the specialized tools and services needed to make