Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity

    Spammers Grab IP Space Assigned to Egyptian President’s Wife

    By
    Brian Prince
    -
    February 2, 2011
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Spammers have control of thousands of IP addresses assigned to the wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the science center that bears her name.

      According to the Spamhaus Project, spammers hijacked IP addresses assigned to Suzanne Mubarak and the Suzanne Mubarak Science Exploration Center. The move is typical of spammers trying to get their hands on Internet address space that has not been blacklisted, security pros told eWEEK.

      “Spammers hijack IP address space to be able to use IPs that are not…listed as having been used for spam, so that their spam has a greater chance of being delivered,” said Mike Geide, senior security researcher for Zscaler. “IP address hijacking by spammers does occur regularly. It also occurs on occasion from accidents/misconfigurations.”

      Another noteworthy IP address hijacking example was when Pakistan accidentally hijacked YouTube’s address space when they set up route statements to “black hole” YouTube’s address space, Geide said.

      “The route propagated in BGP [Border Gateway Protocol] to the global routing table and all Internet traffic destined to YouTube’s address space went to Pakistan,” he said.

      Spamhaus identified suspected spammer Michael Lindsay and his company iMedia Networks as being in control of the Egyptian IP addresses. Egypt’s weeklong Internet outage came to an end today around 5:30 a.m. EST, according to Arbor Networks, when Egyptian Internet traffic returned to near-normal levels.

      “While other countries, including Iran and Myanmar, experienced telecommunication disruptions following social unrest in the past, the Egyptian outage represents a new Internet milestone,” blogged Craig Labovitz, chief scientist at Arbor Networks. “For the region, Egypt enjoys one of the largest and most robust Internet infrastructures with four major national providers and a hundred or more smaller consumer and Web-hosting providers. Put simply, we have never seen a country as connected as Egypt completely lose Internet connectivity for such an extended period. Also as a sign of the growing importance of social media, and Web sites, it is telling that the Egyptian telecommunications block largely focused on the Internet-mobile and fixed-line service returned earlier in the week.”

      Unsurprisingly, Egyptian spam dropped as the country dropped off of the Internet. According to Symantec, historically Egypt has accounted for around one-tenth of a percent of spam in terms of country of origin.

      “For the first question, spammers do their best to bypass anti-spam services. One of the first obstacles the spammer faces is IP reputation-based filtering,” said Eric Park, abuse desk analyst for Symantec. “So it makes perfect sense for spammers to hijack the IP space as it will essentially bypass IP reputation-based filtering-at least temporarily. Spammers also achieve the same thing by hijacking Webmail and sending messages through popular messaging services.

      Brian Prince

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×