By Joel
Hruska | Published: October 06, 2008 - 09:20PM CT
When security researchers and network professionals announced
that
they had successfully forced the ISP Atrivo (aka Intercage) offline
last month, the celebration seemed short-lived. Atrivo's web site was
back online under UnitedLayer within only a few days, and the
consensus from some corners (including certain readers) was that the
entire drive to take Atrivo offline was nothing more than an exercise
in futility. Whack off the head of a hydra, after all, and it grows
back two (unless you've got a torch handy). In this case, the ire of
the security industry burned bright enough to serve that purpose;
UnitedLayer terminated the company on September 25. As of this
writing, Atrivo remains offline.
Did it matter?
MessageLabs has evidence
(PDF) that it did, though possibly only in the short term. When
Atrivo fell offline on September 21, botnet activity across the 'Net
dropped significantly. They begin to recover immediately, suggesting
that the benefits are short-lived indeed, but dropped again (though
not nearly as much) when Atrivo was finally kicked offline for good.
I had no idea that
the amount of traffic from spam was so huge. I also had no idea that
there was such a large amount filtered before it even hits your
inbox! That is just crazy that 90% is filtered before it hits and yet
so much still comes through. Imagine the cost your isp pays by having
to have so much traffic sent over their networks. Too bad that I
firmly believe even if there was no spam the cost to the end user
would still remain the same. I don't see corporations ending their
monopolies any time soon, nor do I see them lowering the cost to us
if they did reduce spam. Still it is nice to see someone is doing
something about all this!
Shane - Thank you, I am constantly amazed by just how crazy the truth can be. You are so right about the costs going up no matter what. Warren Zevon had a great line in one of his songs about this
"and if California slides into the ocean,
like the mystics and statistics say it will,
I believe this motel will still be standing,
until I pay my bill!"
Yeah I guess I am openly anti-corporate. At least its finally PC to be that way. I have always been that way but it somehow was not ok. As if corporate america was a good thing! No thanks Martha!
Eau Claire Real Estate and The Real State of Real Estate in the Chippewa Valley. A blog created for the people of Eau Claire and the greater Chippewa Valley to extensively cover real estate matters as they pertain to the people who matter most to me. Local real estate issues for local people. Buy or Sell, I'll Treat You Well!
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
;)
;)
I never knew that about the hydra ... I'll have to keep that in mind for next time ...