Web site reputation

Recently several companies have developed features or products to make web surfing more secure. One of these technologies uses reputation. Reputation is a measure of trust for a web site or web page. In this case trust is typically measured by how much SPAM, malicious traffic, or attacks a site is known to generate. It turns out that measuring these things is not that hard because a majority of web traffic flows through a relatively small number of gateways and backbone networks.

This is a very good idea. If a web site is known to host malware or send a lot of SPAM, then block or warn users before they visit a site. Of course, cyber-criminals have started to figure out how to bypass these checks. They simply attack sites with good reputations and get them to host the malware. In some cases, it's just a matter of providing an advertisement.

Reputation based security is still a great idea because it forces the crooks to work harder. However, we can't get over confident and rely on this technique to always protect us. This means keep your software patched, don't click on suspicious links, and ignore any offer that is to good to be true.

Alert FOX News!

So, I got this funny SPAM email, and I thought someone will take this seriously and alert FOX news to yet another massive government intrusion into our lives... ;-)

By the way the SPAM came with a ZIP file that will probably p0wn your computer if you install it...

------ Begin Message
From: Alfreda Robertson
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:04:07 +0200
To:
Subject: IRS Notification - For Tax Payer xxx-x-xxxx-x@catbird.com

Dear Tax Payer,

As part of new requirements from the IRS, all U.S. Citizens are required by law to update their computers with new tax software.

To begin the update, install the attached file

After doing so, no further action is required on your part.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,
IRS Agent #175
Alfreda Robertson

------ End of Message