Actual spam from a security company or joe job? You decide.

http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=111208

"The CEO of an antispam firm whose service was knocked off-line by a spammer earlier this week claimed that his company was the victim of a sophisticated attack carried out, in part, with the help of someone at a top-tier Internet service provider (ISP).

But some security experts expressed doubts about the company's claims and said they appear to be an attempt to deflect attention from the criticism it has recived for the way in which it handled the attacks.

Eran Reshef, CEO of Blue Security Inc., an Israeli antispam firm, said his company was attacked by a major spammer named PharmaMaster who used a combination of methods to knock out the company.s Web site and the servers hosting its services.

Blue Security, which has its U.S. headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., operates an antispam service designed to deter junk-mailers by spamming them back. Blue Security.s Do Not Intrude program allows individuals to register their e-mail addresses with the company and essentially flood spammers who send them e-mail with automated opt-out requests."

Shown below, this is one of many spam emails sent to various addresses at attrition.org. None appeared to have come from a legitimate Blue Security email address, but the irony could be that sending spam in the guise of representing Blue Security may end up being even worse than the denial-of-service attacks they experienced.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: anczuberger@cellkabel.hu
To: staff@attrition.org
Date: Sun, 07 May 2006 10:56:26 -0600
Subject: Simulated DDoS Network Attacks and Network Intrusions

Skybox Security Solutions

Simulated DDoS Network Attacks and Network Intrusions

Customer Challenge: Large corporations often hire consultants to conduct quarterly penetration (DDoS) testing on specific segments of their corporate network. This testing can cost over hundreds of thousands of dollars, and also exposes the network to many potential disruptions. These disruptions are the result of the intense DDoS attacks testers can impose on live networks in order to isolate vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Since the network is constantly changing, and DDoS attacks are rarely dispersed from a centralized location, the penetration test results often become nullified and end up being limited to a small portion of the total network.

The Skybox Solution: Skybox Security performs accurate and non-intrusive DDoS attacks across a larger portion of the corporate network. The tests are modeled and analyzed through an automated process via our large botnet network rather than manually performed on a live network. As a result, the tests are repeated rigorously on a scheduled basis without any fear of network disruption. Through DDoS attack and access simulation, vulnerability exposures as well as security control weaknesses are revealed instantly. DDoS attack simulation discovers all possible attack scenarios and reveals the step by step process that an attacker or worm may follow. It illustrates specific vulnerabilities to be exploited and network access traversed for each exploitable path. Access simulation calculates network access privileges determined by firewall and routing configuration. Our botnet helps characterize the interconnectivity between any two given points, reporting not just whether access is possible, but also the detailed path to reach a final destination. Based on these combined results, security personnel are able to determine what additional DDoS attacks are necessary and where to deploy our organizations penetration testers.

Awards: Info Security - Info Security Hot Companies 2006 The Wall Street Journal - One of the most innovative companies in 2005 Information Security Magazine - Product of the year Network Magazine - Most Visionary Security Product Network Magazine - Best of the Best in all categories Secure Enterprise Magazine - Editor's Choice Gartner - " Cool Vendor " in the security & privacy space SC Magazine Awards 2006 Winner - The Best Security Solution for Financial Services IM2005 Award finalist - Information Security and Product of the Year

Company Profile: Eran Reshef Founder, Chairman & CEO of Blue Security ( www.bluesecurity.com )

A serial entrepreneur, Eran is currently the founder, chairman & CEO of Blue Security, the do-not-disturb registry pioneer. Prior to Blue, Eran co-founded Skybox Security and served as its Chairman. Prior to Skybox Eran founded and managed Sanctum (acquired by WatchFire), the leader in web application security. Eran holds a variety of security- related patents that are based on his inventions.

Rina Shainski General Partner at Carmel Ventures ( www.carmelventures.com )

Following a successful career leading business development and R&D operations in high-growth software companies, Rina has been investing in software companies ever since. Before joining Carmel she served as the VP Business Development at Clal Industries and Investments where she was responsible for software investments. From 1989 to 1996, Rina held several managerial positions in Tecnomatix including VP Business Development and R&D Director. Rina serves on the boards of Followap Communications, Skybox Security, mFormation and Silicon Design Systems. Rina holds a B.Sc. degree in Physics from Tel Aviv University and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Weizmann Institute.

Contact Information:
2077 Gateway Place, Suite 550
San Jose, California 95110 USA
Phone: 866-6SKYBOX
Phone: 408 441 8060
Fax: 408 441 8068

Regional Offices (Israel)
60 Medinat Hayehudim St.
P.O.Box 4109
Herzliya Pituach 46140 Israel
Phone: +972-9-9545922
Fax: +972-9-9545933