While the technique of routing mail via mail servers of net service firms might cause problems for those that use blacklists and block lists it did not mean that other techniques for stopping spam lost their efficacy too.

BBC: PC hard drive, Eyewire

Far more common--but still damaging--are the high-volume crime spikes, spam e-mail distribution and "phishing, " a pernicious technique for stealing credit-card information. (For more on online scams, check out "Where The Scammers Are".) The carnage is hard to pin down in dollar terms, but Marcus Ranum, chief security officer of Tenable Security, says it's "billions upon billions"--far more than all "major" hacking incidents combined.

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Steve Linford, director of Spamhaus, predicted that if a lot of spammers exploit this technique it could trigger the failure of the net's e-mail sending infrastructure.

BBC: PC hard drive, Eyewire

As blocking all mail from net firms just to catch the spam is impractical, Spamhaus is worried that the technique will give junk mailers the ability to spam with little fear of being spotted and stopped.

BBC: PC hard drive, Eyewire

Around the same time, military contractors Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin were also hacked from computers in China, according to industry sources. (For more, see "Cyberspies Target Silent Victims".) Alan Paller of the SANS Institute says that many of those breaches may have involved a technique known as "spear phishing"--impersonating a high level official's e-mail to lure employees into revealing their security codes.

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