December 8, 2004

Lycos: the debacle continues

by brian_turner

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I covered the story of the Lycos “make love not spam” anti-spammer campaign with Lycos to DDoS spammers, and then in Lycos DDoS denied described how the Lycos site was effectively dead in the water.

Well, apparently it turns out that certain targeted sites decided to redirect themselves to the Lycos anti-spamming site - effectively turning the anti-spam sreensaver against the very source originating it in the first place.

If the idea of a DDoS attack being redirected at the source wasn’t news enough in itself, the whole campaign has taken an ugly turn: ZNet reports F-Secure’s director of anti-virus research, Mikko Hyppönen, as stating that a spoof Lycos screensaver is now being distributed, which contains a trojan for stealing and passing on passwords and credit card information.

Truly an extraordinary example of how good intentions can backfire - and how creatively the internet underworld can defend itself against corporate attack.

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Story link: Lycos: the debacle continues

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