Author: Marc Chouinard
Marc Chouinard
Marc Chouinard is an expert’s expert who has more than 15 years of IT experience. As Head of a Security Operations Team, he is always available, responding 24/7 to new threats: “Sleeping is a waste of time!” A natural fixer of broken things, he has an uncommon approach to problem solving and a phenomenal (some say scary) memory for numbers. Non-technical individuals might refer to what Marc does as IT Voodoo. Oh, and did we mention he has a great sense of humor too?
Articles by this author
Top 3 Spam Trends for October
The top 3 spots were determined by the sheer volume of messages that were tracked by our system. In third place, it was a tie between "Lose WeightInstantly" PDFs and the flood of messages that originated from Chinese (cn) domains. (Nov 02, 2009)
We need spam to sell our anti-spam
The ISP market is a jungle: it’s every man for himself and leave the wounded behind. Some time ago, I subscribed to a big ISP (that shall remain nameless) that was leading the market. When I subscribed, I gave my chosen username for the email address – although it was included with the service I never used it (I didn’t even configure it). The username is a mix of things that make it unique and pretty much unreachable through dictionary attacks, something like 667gptfoo99x@. (Oct 26, 2009)
Who do you trust?
There were 2 major malware waves last week that caused a big impact. The first one involved the Outlook Notification virus, which some major AV providers were still unable to catch even after 12 hours in the wild. (Oct 19, 2009)
Hello my Friend… My name is Irina
Since “Russian wife” spam is on the rise, I’ll take this occasion to tell you a little story. An old colleague (let’s call him John) answered one of those messages about 2 or 3 years ago, just to see how things would go. The “girl” replied very quickly, and they soon began chatting about almost everything. (Oct 05, 2009)
Spam Trends - September 2009
While examining our spam traffic over the last 4 weeks, I extracted the "new” content data. We received the usual spam every week, but occasionally had noticeable outbreaks. (Sep 28, 2009)
Here’s a Quick Way to Stop Chain Letters
You’ve never heard of "white spam"? Of course not, I just made it up. Also called "friend spam," white spam is legitimate email that comes from annoying sources: a friend or relative (or both) who sends his daily home-made blog, details of adventures with his dog or multiple weekly chain letters. (Sep 21, 2009)
Free HotSpots! Do banking while we look!
You are downtown and don’t have an EVDO/3G connection. After scanning the area, you find an SSID called “Free Internet 4 You.” Cool! You connect to the network, start checking your emails and maybe do some financial transactions, and… you’ve probably fallen into a trap. (Sep 14, 2009)
Top 5 reasons why your email was caught as spam: true stories
5 Reasons why your email might have been caught as spam (Sep 07, 2009)
Image Spam is Back! Really?!
You got 2 spam messages during the week-end. Oh my God, file a complaint! But take a look at your older quarantine or spam report contents: you’ll see that hundreds, if not thousands, of spam were caught during that period. So, is seeing only 2 spam really a big deal? (Aug 31, 2009)
Phishing threats: only by email?
You’ve all heard of the typical phishing emails that target Uncle Joe and Aunt Patty, urging them to send their personal information over the Internet because they “won the lottery.” Yes, they are the biggest fish out there, making phishing activities very attractive for scammers. But another threat is lurking quietly behind your computer: your kids. Attracted by emulators, free games and P2P, etc., this is where the dangers begin. (Aug 24, 2009)
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