1 00:00:00,670 --> 00:00:02,400 Let's talk about spam. 2 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:05,040 If you've been on the Internet for any amount of time, 3 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:07,190 you've probably gotten spam before. 4 00:00:07,190 --> 00:00:08,900 Spam is simply the abuse of the 5 00:00:08,900 --> 00:00:10,770 electronic messaging systems. 6 00:00:10,770 --> 00:00:13,980 Things like email, texting, social media, 7 00:00:13,980 --> 00:00:16,870 broadcast media, and even instant messaging. 8 00:00:16,870 --> 00:00:19,530 Most commonly though, we see this with email. 9 00:00:19,530 --> 00:00:22,360 You get to your inbox and it's flooded with spam. 10 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:23,720 Do you want this type of pill? 11 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:24,860 Do you want to get taller? 12 00:00:24,860 --> 00:00:25,950 Do you want to lose weight? 13 00:00:25,950 --> 00:00:27,700 Do you want to do this, or do that? 14 00:00:27,700 --> 00:00:30,370 Basically, they're a bunch of offers, and a lot of times 15 00:00:30,370 --> 00:00:32,540 it's because they're trying to sell you something. 16 00:00:32,540 --> 00:00:33,990 But, most of the time, 17 00:00:33,990 --> 00:00:36,960 it's just advertisements, and it's just annoying. 18 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,060 It could also be dangerous, depending on 19 00:00:39,060 --> 00:00:40,720 what attachments they're using. 20 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:42,670 For example, if they're sending spam out 21 00:00:42,670 --> 00:00:44,370 to hundreds of thousands of users, 22 00:00:44,370 --> 00:00:47,560 and it has embedded malware in it, that would be even worse. 23 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:49,270 But, luckily, most of the time, 24 00:00:49,270 --> 00:00:52,090 it's just advertisements, and it's just annoying. 25 00:00:52,090 --> 00:00:54,150 Well, if it's so annoying, why don't we just 26 00:00:54,150 --> 00:00:56,920 stop spammers and block their email servers? 27 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:59,830 Well, unfortunately, spammers are pretty smart, too. 28 00:00:59,830 --> 00:01:01,920 They figured out that they can exploit 29 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:03,640 other organization's email servers 30 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,140 and use those to send their messages. 31 00:01:06,140 --> 00:01:07,730 The way this works, is that there's a thing 32 00:01:07,730 --> 00:01:09,920 called an open mail relay. 33 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:12,730 What this means is that every organization who's out there 34 00:01:12,730 --> 00:01:14,980 and has an email server, they have the ability 35 00:01:14,980 --> 00:01:16,290 to send mail out. 36 00:01:16,290 --> 00:01:18,730 They also have the ability to act as a relay 37 00:01:18,730 --> 00:01:22,400 and send mail on the behalf of other email organizations. 38 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:24,570 So if your organization hasn't properly secured 39 00:01:24,570 --> 00:01:26,110 your own mail relays, 40 00:01:26,110 --> 00:01:29,020 spammers can send mail through your mail servers 41 00:01:29,020 --> 00:01:30,490 out to other people. 42 00:01:30,490 --> 00:01:32,600 Now, do you really care if a spammer 43 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:35,650 is using your email servers to route their mail through? 44 00:01:35,650 --> 00:01:38,470 Well, you should, because back in 2003 45 00:01:38,470 --> 00:01:41,080 there was a law put in place here in the United States. 46 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:43,250 It's called CAN-SPAM. 47 00:01:43,250 --> 00:01:45,800 CAN-SPAM stands for Controlling the Assault 48 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,710 of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act. 49 00:01:48,710 --> 00:01:50,710 And it establishes the United States' 50 00:01:50,710 --> 00:01:54,130 first national standards for sending commercial emails. 51 00:01:54,130 --> 00:01:56,410 It also requires the Federal Trade Commission 52 00:01:56,410 --> 00:01:59,400 to enforce the provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act. 53 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:01,650 So if a spammer is able to send mail 54 00:02:01,650 --> 00:02:03,740 through your server and an open relay, 55 00:02:03,740 --> 00:02:06,550 they could be breaking the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, 56 00:02:06,550 --> 00:02:09,340 and that means the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, 57 00:02:09,340 --> 00:02:10,940 is going to be coming back to you 58 00:02:10,940 --> 00:02:13,440 because your server is the one that's being used 59 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:14,580 to send these emails. 60 00:02:14,580 --> 00:02:17,310 In addition to that, if you have open relays open, 61 00:02:17,310 --> 00:02:19,080 and additional people are using those 62 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,140 to send out spam or other messaging, 63 00:02:21,140 --> 00:02:24,200 they're using your processing and your bandwidth to do it 64 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:26,890 and that can slow down your own systems. 65 00:02:26,890 --> 00:02:29,380 Now, beyond spam, there's another variation, 66 00:02:29,380 --> 00:02:30,520 and it's called SPIM. 67 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:33,290 SPIM is Spam over Instant Messaging. 68 00:02:33,290 --> 00:02:36,420 SPIM is the abuse of instant messaging systems. 69 00:02:36,420 --> 00:02:39,810 It works just like spam, except it's going to abuse things 70 00:02:39,810 --> 00:02:42,650 like your text messages, your Facebook chat, 71 00:02:42,650 --> 00:02:45,680 chatrooms inside games, and other things like that. 72 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,930 This messaging is also known as IM spam. 73 00:02:48,930 --> 00:02:51,370 Like I said, it works just like regular spam, 74 00:02:51,370 --> 00:02:54,700 except instead of emails, you're getting instant messages, 75 00:02:54,700 --> 00:02:57,617 text messages, or things like that.