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Study Links Storm Botnet's Growth To Illegal Drugs
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:22 AM
from the nobody-saw-that-one-coming dept.
from the nobody-saw-that-one-coming dept.
talkinsecurity writes "Researchers at IronPort today published a study which claims to have found the 'smoking gun' that links the rapid growth of the Storm botnet to spammers that sell prescription drugs illegally over the Internet. The study shows that more than 80 percent of Storm-generated spam is advertising online pharmacy brands, and further investigation showed that spam templates, credit card processing, product fulfillment and customer support are all being provided by a 'Russian criminal organization' that operates in conjunction with Storm. This criminal organization recruits botnet spamming partners to advertise their illegal pharmacy Websites, which receive a 40 percent commission on sales orders. IronPort went as far as to do pharmacological testing on the products, and found that two-thirds of the drugs contained the wrong dosage of the active ingredient, and the rest were placebos."
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It's True (Score:5, Funny)
And you don't even want to see my home directory when I'm freebasing Wormwood. Let's just say it's a good thing it's on a totally separate hard drive when I'm riding the green worm.
Re:It's True (Score:5, Insightful)
we have enough problems with people confusing hackers with crackers (etc); we have the ever-present 'war on drugs' (that will NEVER end; see the book '1984' and its view on why a continual war on 'something' is always good for the gov.).
but this is NOT about 'illegal drugs'; its about the LEGAL ones that do many of the same things the 'illegal ones' do but have congress supporting them. the problem is, the 'legal drugs' are outrageously priced (compared to the true selling price that the rest of the world tends to get) and so OF COURSE people on limited income (that's most of us, btw) can't afford the artificially high (heh) drug prices.
THAT is the problem to solve. make drugs affordable and there will be NO MORE 'online pharms'.
but why *solve* the root-cause problem? its not the american way anymore (sadly)
at any rate, this is not about 'illegal drugs'. what they are selling may or may not be quality; but the compounds you are buying are NOT illegal!
for once, lets tie spam to the LEGAL otc drugs. tell it how it is - that by the large-scale addiction we create on so-called legal drugs, we have forced people to go around the very expensive system and find other ways to get their 'legal fix'.
you have to look at the magnitude of how evil the 2 sides are. arguably if the health care system was WORKING, we wouldn't have a market for 'affordable' prescription drugs.
fix the real problem and the ancillary one will fix itself.
Parent
Re:It's True (Score:5, Interesting)
The people to be pitied in all this aren't the ones abusing pain meds. It's the middle-aged suddenly unemployed guy who takes meds for hypertension or the elderly person who's in the notorious "hole" in the middle of the Medicare drug benefit or the financially struggling young couple with a child who needs some lifesaving drug or other. Or, perhaps, the employed person whose health care benefit has shriveled to nothing.
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So shop at Walmart (Score:4, Informative)
The real draw to these online pharmacies are the drugs like Viagra and Cialis which are not available in a generic formula. What drives these sales is not the cost it is the embarrassment. Men do not want to go ask the family doctor for E.D. meds they would rather risk going online, picking some up in Mexico or going without. Interestingly enough their Dentist buddy or their vet could just as easily write them a script for any of the above legally.
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Prescription and danger (Score:3, Interesting)
The addict may be shopping around for several physician in order to have enough prescriptions from all of them for his habit but spacing enough time between consultation at each one not to raise suspicions.
This strategy could work, but is tedious and costly. Getting those drugs on-line simplifies the process and cuts the doctor's cost out of the equation.
Interestingly enough their Dentist buddy or their vet could just as easily write them a script for any of the above legally.
What ? In the USA vets and dentist have the righ
Re:Prescription and danger (Score:4, Informative)
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Link (Score:3, Informative)
They are illegal (Score:3, Insightful)
While the actual pills may not contain a substance that is "illegal", the manner in which they are presented is. Kinda like how alcohol is legal, but it can only be sold under certain conditions (and not to minors, etc).
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Re:It's True (Score:4, Insightful)
Or maybe governments just don't think it's a very good idea for people to be homebrewing dangerous narcotics. Yes, it *is* possible to overdose on morphine, which is derived from the poppy plant. Continuous use even of smaller doses can cause all sorts of problems, some of which are not particularly pleasant to even talk about, much less experience (as I know first-hand). A doctor still needs to prescribe the correct dosage and manage its use and *somebody* needs to actually ensure that the correct dose is being dispensed.
You could say "well, then let doctors grow the plants and refine the medicine, at least cut out the middle man" - but I doubt most doctors would be all that interested. For one thing, it puts liability for any drug-related problems onto them. Right now, if somebody dispenses the wrong dosage - if a pill that's labeled 60mg actually contains 600mg, for example - that's not the doctor's fault. Do you think doctors would be interested in *making* it their fault?
No matter how you think about it, if you don't want a whole bunch of dead people lying around along with a whole bunch of corresponding new lawsuits against doctors who are just trying to care for their patients winding their way through the courts, then some outside entity needs to actually be refining and dispensing these drugs. In our system, that's the pharmaceutical company and the pharmacist. These are specialized jobs; they're not something just anyone can or should do.
If I take the wrong dosage of my medication (Inderal LA), my brain doesn't get enough blood, my heart eventually stops and I die. Do you think I want to be refining my own Inderal? Hell no. And honestly, nobody else should be doing so either, however libertarian your views are. If such a practice became widespread, the result would be absolute chaos in the health care system and a whole lot of unnecessary and fully preventable deaths.
This is not to say there aren't serious problems with our system for dispensing prescription drugs to those who need them. But the existence of specialists who actually know what they're doing and highly precise machines designed for the specific purpose of refining drugs are not among those problems.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Water is wet (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:snarkiness here is misplaced... (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Re:snarkiness here is misplaced... (Score:4, Interesting)
Like the illegality itself, everything the government does concerning drugs is counterproductive.
Parent
Re:snarkiness here is misplaced... (Score:5, Insightful)
This is bad, because some of the things the government says about drugs are true. This due more to random statistics than diligent research, I'd say- if you make 1000 completely random statements, some of them are bound to be true simply by chance. For instance, meth, crack and heroin really do have a great addictive potential, and the ratio of the LD50 dose to the active dose is disturbingly small. Unfortunately, kids simply don't listen when they're told this, because cops say the same things about weed.
Even worse, some kids actually buy into the propaganda. These are the kids who believe that illegal drugs are dangerous because they're illegal, so they huff paint cleaner and other "legal" drugs. These "legal" methods of getting high are actually more dangerous than heroin, but they don't carry the illegal stigma so kids don't see them as dangerous if they believe the drug prohibition propaganda.
I'd much rather see all drugs be made legal- ALL of them. Then sell them at convenience stores to adults in packages with certain ratings on the package. Addictiveness could be quantified (by independent medical professionals, not the government) and placed on the package. Also, the ratio of the LD50 dose to the active dose could be printed in big letters. The time to take effect could also be printed, so that people don't accidentally overdose thinking the first hit didn't work. This would increase government revenue through more taxes and less money spent on the DEA, destroy the black market and its associated violence, drastically empty our prisons of nonviolent offenders, restore faith in the police as a force to protect people rather than imprison them for "victimless crimes", and make it more difficult for kids to buy drugs. (Yes, more difficult. Children regularly report that it's more difficult to obtain alcohol than drugs, for the simple reason that most drug dealers don't ask for ID.) It would also help more drug addicts get treatment, because they'd no longer have to fear prosecution if they want to get treatment. Oh, and it would give us back a free society where citizens are treated as adults who can make their own decisions about their own bodies.
If you're looking for an objective information source regarding drugs, I highly recommend erowid.org. This website contains information about damn near every psychoactive drug in existence. Not only chemical information and physiological effects, but also specific legal information and many, MANY personal experiences.
Strangely enough, I find myself recommending the South Park episode about weed to anyone who wants a decent way to sum up the dangers of marijuana. After most of the episode centers around ridiculous propaganda, Stan's father eventually wises up and says: "Son, weed isn't going to make you a criminal. It will make you okay with being bored, though, and every day you spend stoned on the couch is one less day you could be learning a new hobby or developing a new skill." I found that very insightful. Frankly, I also liked the recent drug commercial where a stoner says "I smoked weed, and I didn't become homeless or start smoking crack. We just sat on my friend's couch... and sat... and sat... I'd rather take my chances outside, where it's dangerous."
This kind of honest approach would do wonders, in my opinion. And, yes, I'm a regular stoner- I just know how and when to put the drugs down and work on my physics PhD thesis (if you don't believe this, look at my history and read the posts I've written regarding quantum entangleme
Parent
But they were blue!?!?! (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
There will always be suckers (Score:2, Troll)
Too bad that's a blanket statement as I'm sure there is an unfortunate minority who aren't trying to get a fix and genuinely have a need...
Re: (Score:2)
All in all, I don't think you needed the disclaimer.
Re:There will always be suckers (Score:5, Interesting)
It's hard to imagine a legitimate scenario where someone would be forced to use spammers to provide their meds. As for the internet stock scams, or the Nigerian scam, only the greedy will apply.
All in all, I don't think you needed the disclaimer.
Normally I would agree with you
When I was in college I broke my wrist falling on some ice while doing laundry around 4am (long story, you know college...) anyway, i went to the hospital in all my dirty clothing & they refused to give me any pain medication for fear I was some hippie junkie (no kidding) just looking for a fix. Luckily my dad was head of ultrasound there & as soon as he showed up their attitude did a 180. I didn't even want the drugs, I'm allergic to opiates but the principle of the whole thing... The pain was pretty intense, who could I turn to for pain management when the hospital thought I was just some bum because I was in dirty clothes had I not had some "pull" there?
It was a pretty scary thought and still haunts me to this day.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
It's even harder to imagine a legitimate business that would have to resort to spammers to sell their meds.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem with that statement is these people's ignorance is causing repercussions for everybody. If some poor soul can't afford six bucks a pop for V1@GR@ and, against all logic, turns to an unsolicited email for help, that's all profit for the spammer and significant profit for the drug shipper. What incentive does this give either of them to use more legitimate means of business? So, they continue to spam, or spam more, and we suffer. Oh, some guy got a counterfeit erectile-dysfunction medication boo
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Oh god, don't remind me. Up until about 3 years ago, I ran my own mail server (DSL, fixed IP, old PC). One of the things I did was enable SASL authentication for SMTP (which requires logging in with a username and password before outgoing mail will be accepted for relay). Within a matter of months, spammers around the world figured out that I had a live SMTP server running on port 25. SASL AUTH or not, more and more spamm
Link provided goes to big Flash page (Score:2)
The link provided leads to an all-Flash page. Suspicious.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Admittedly it's annoying; in fact the first attempt to go there crashed my browser.
Only one solution then (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Including counterfeits of branded ones? These guys aren't selling weed and poppers.
Smart idea.
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Re: (Score:2)
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Re:Only one solution then (Score:5, Insightful)
But if you make antibiotics over-the-counter it won't be long before none of them work. Even needing a prescription for such drugs there are already way too many sntibiotic-resistant bacteria.
You should have the right to fuck your life up any way you want, but you damned sure shouldn't have the right to fuck mine up by making antibiotics useless. Legalizing them would do just that.
Parent
Re:Only one solution then (Score:4, Insightful)
Tough. People already use drugs, they will always use drugs. Chances are you know an opiate addict and don't even know it.
And yes, advocating the imprisonment of people for something as benign as cannabis is very nazi-ish. I smoke pot every day. I also work full time, pay my bills, and generally contribute positively to society. I don't hurt people, I don't steal, etc. If you would assault and kidnap (arrest and imprison) me just for kicking back with a bowl after work, then *you* are the dangerous one.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
If you would assault and kidnap (arrest and imprison) me just for kicking back with a bowl after work, then *you* are the dangerous one.
When did I say arrest and imprison? How many people do you know who have been arrested just for using marijuana in a responsible manner?
There are plenty of people who claim that cops go around kicking in doors and beating the hell out of people just for smoking pot in their homes. But yet there is almost no evidence of that happening to recreational users.
The way that the laws are enforced for drugs are essentially the same as the way they are enforced for alcohol. Whether you chose to get drunk
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
When did I say arrest and imprison? How many people do you know who have been arrested just for using marijuana in a responsible manner?
You said leaving the current laws alone. If I were to take a joint with me to the park and enjoy it during a picnic, I'd stand a very good chance of being assaulted by a police officer. Hell, if I were to enjoy a joint in my own damn backyard during a BBQ, I'd stand a very good chance of being assaulted.
There are plenty of people who claim that cops go around kicking in do
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
According to your logic, it's ok that Iran has the death penalty for gay people because it doesn't catch most of them, it's ok that Sudan stones women to death for having sex outside marriage, because it doesn't catch most of them.
If you are going to make a stupid argument, stand by it to it's stupid conclusion or shut your mouth. Answer all of what is put to you, not just the bits you can do easily, should people be arrested for obsessively eating chocolate?, for obsessively going on the intern
Highly accurate assesment: (Score:2, Redundant)
NO $H!T
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Two drug stories in one day? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Two drug stories in one day? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Redundant)
I, for one, welcome our new hooker-story submitting editors.
Cheers
Just come up with some fake terrorist links (Score:2, Interesting)
Education Beyond Your Intelligence (Score:2)
Wait... (Score:2)
Wait, so 2/3 were the wrong dosage and 1/3 were placebos? None were correct?
Speaking of which... (Score:2)
As far as I know, the server accepts orders as long as the client-side Javascript doesn't make an objection - I could easily use randomly generated contact information for filling these forms or otherwise turn off Javascript to create an order with blank billing information. Of course, they've blocked TOR with a spurious "Invalid Server Configuration" error message, thus I actually have to use a direct connection from multiple po
Anyone surprised? (Score:2)
If the same study had been done several years ago (before broadband at home became so common) the results would have been the same, with pirated software substituted where drugs are now. We can also thank the idiotic health care system in the US for this - some people are willing to try almost anything to save money on offi
Fake. Not placebo. (Score:3, Informative)
WOD = Spam? (Score:3, Funny)
Caveat Emptor... (Score:4, Insightful)
Something is not right (Score:5, Interesting)
Come on.. what kind of software security company does this ?? ... perhaps one being paid off by pharmaceutical companies to do exactly that.. highly suspect.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
If online pharmacies screwed people 100% of the time, nobody at all would buy from them, because in a game like that the big money is in repeat orde