On 21 April 2010 14:40, Eric A. Meyer <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello Gmail users, > > I've been seeing an increasing number of pharma-spam messages in > the spam filters being sent by list members with Gmail accounts. > (I've been seeing this happen in my personal inbox as well.) > Fortunately, thanks to the way the spam is constructed, it's been > prevented from reaching the list. > As I say, these all seem to be coming from Gmail accounts. An > article from Computerworld UK (http://is.gd/bC3yy) covering this has > some information, though sadly no definitive answers or solutions. > I usually don't send this sort of thing to the list, but a quick > search reveals that just over 2,600 of you-- nearly a third of the > list-- have Gmail addresses. If you're one of those people, please > check your outbox to make sure you haven't become an unwitting > spammer and consider taking steps like changing your password. > Thanks. > Isn't this a bit of a red herring, Eric?
People have always been able to send emails purporting to come from someone else - that spamming technique is as old as the hills. The sophistication I suppose might come from the ability to lift mailing list members emails addresses and then re-target the mailing list. It might be wise for people to check their sent folders anyway just to make sure the spam isn't originating directly from their account. I am curious to know how many are affected by this. I can't see any spam in my sent folder so am assuming I'm not one of the affected. Helpful tips for those that find they need to change their passwords might include: 1. not using words available in any dictionary 2. not relying on a staright leetspeak conversion e.g. door to d00r 3. do include punctuation marks or special characters and digits. 4. do make it as long as you can possibly remember e.g. it is usually possible to recall an 8 character password. Regards Lesley ______________________________________________________________________ css-discuss [[email protected]] http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d List wiki/FAQ -- http://css-discuss.incutio.com/ List policies -- http://css-discuss.org/policies.html Supported by evolt.org -- http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/
