Author: Margot MacNutt
Margot MacNutt
Margot MacNutt got her start as a Technical Support Analyst during the good ol’ days when Spam was that canned stuff and the only threat to email was a slow modem. She is now a Business Analyst in a leading email security company, involved in developing new features to fight the other spam and whatever else threatens the flow of messages and information.
Articles by this author
Are you afraid of your inbox?
Do you hear the Jaws theme in your head when you’re about to check your email? Da dum, Da dum, Da dum... It’s ok - you’re not alone. A lot of people are freaking out over their email these days because they can’t keep up. (Jul 12, 2011)
Do you trust your child online? Can you trust yourself?
Ok, you’ve been hearing this advice for years: monitor your children’s activities on the Internet, talk to them about the possible dangers, install web monitoring programs, and so on. And, of course, you secure your own online activities too, right? (May 11, 2011)
Word of the Week: Clickjacking
Clickjacking scams are making the rounds of Facebook users again, and while the current wave is supposedly under control (according to the FB people) new versions keep popping up all the time. (Mar 07, 2011)
Lt. Nicholas Hamilton - US Army Lieutenant Iraq Scam
It appears the Nigerian 411-type scam has invaded Iraq, and it’s using American soldiers as the bait and hook. Our spam filters are picking up this new form of trash that will definitely play on Americans’ patriotism and their support for their troops. (Feb 09, 2011)
12 New Terms for the Anti-Tech Dictionary
In case you missed it, Chris Bowlby, a BBC Mobile News contributor, wrote a fun little article about the evolution of techno-speak and how the unplugged portion (Internet-wise) of the world’s population had no clue what the plugged-ins were talking about. In response, he created some great new anti-tech words and phrases. The subject has obviously struck a chord with people who responded with flurry of their own contributions. (Jan 20, 2011)
How to clean up after the Gawker mess
I actually find the Gawker1 situation a bit of a mixed blessing. If you work in the IT industry, I’m sure you know how frustrating it can be to explain to users the hazards of reusing passwords, of using short, simple dictionary words, and blah, blah, blah. All that oft-repeated advice fell on deaf ears, right? Maybe now that will change. (Dec 17, 2010)
The Spam Before Christmas
The Spam Before Christmas [Video]. ‘Twas the fortnight before Christmas, and all through my email / No good messages were stirring, just illicit retail; / There were Viagra and Cialis, and their load of bunk, / And watches galore – really, who buys this junk? (Dec 08, 2010)
Smishing and Vishing: Scammers are targeting your cell phone
Are you familiar with the terms smishing and vishing? They’ve been around for a few years now, but they’re not as common as email phishing and haven’t been given as much attention. (Nov 29, 2010)
Facebook Mail Rumor: Friend or Foe? Gmail killer?
The feature hasn’t even been officially announced yet and already the “Will Facebook kill Gmail, Hotmail, etc.” speculations are popping up all over the Net. I don’t know about ‘kill’ per se, but Facebook will definitely give the big guns a run for their money. (Nov 12, 2010)
Java exploits increase as AV performance decreases
These 2 pieces of bad news could make a bad combination. The first piece of bad news is the recent upswing in attacks on Oracle’s Java software. According to a Computerworld1 article published today, the past 9 months has seen a whopping increase in attacks, from “less than half a million in the first quarter of 2010 to more than 6 million in the third quarter.” Much of the focus of these attacks has been on 3 vulnerabilities that were supposedly patched months, even years ago. (Oct 20, 2010)
The Spam War Debate
Have you read any of the Spam Wars debate by Computerworld bloggers David A. Milman 1 and Richi Jennings 2? Both make valid points, but the brunt of their focus was on dealing with Inbox contents, which is the last line of defense. In my opinion, the real problems lie at the head of the matter: the design of the Internet and the message transmission structure, and that little thing called money. The only true way to win the spam wars is to cut off both heads of the beast. What do you think? (Oct 08, 2010)
You might be an IT Nazi if…
When it comes to email content and filter settings, let’s suppose you have to keep a tight lid over what users can and cannot access. Or maybe you’re just too keenly aware of how people can get themselves into trouble and all the man-hours required to clean up the resulting mess. You might be an IT Nazi if... (Sep 22, 2010)
What does Email Security mean to you?
When it comes to securing your organization’s email, you want to protect all aspects of email flow: inbound, local-to-local, and outbound. (Sep 01, 2010)
“You can’t fix stupid”
HostExploit people named Demand Media the worst ISP in the world because of the number of botnet control centers they host and the sheer volume of junk that spews from its network. They reportedly host an estimated 7,400 infected websites. (Aug 19, 2010)
Spear Phishing: Is Your Boss a Whale?
Spear and whale phishing 1have been around for a while now, but recent social engineering efforts are focusing more on company executives. An example is this type of email: it certainly looks legit at first glance; even the phone number and address – right down to the floor number – are correct. But take a closer look at the URL used in the links: the real site has no relation to puzzlejs-mailing.com. (Jul 29, 2010)
Who’s responsible for Internet Security?
A couple of stories in the news today caught my attention because they have very opposite perspectives on tackling cybercrime and Internet security. First, the Australian government is thinking of making home computer users responsible for security1. They’re contemplating legislation to force users to install anti-virus programs and firewalls on their home computers before being allowed to connect to the Internet. (Jun 23, 2010)
Angelina Jolie wants to be my friend: The pitfalls of social media
I guess writing this blog brings some perks after all. I’ve been nominated to ‘represent [my] professional community’ for every possible Who’s Who list, Facebook invitations are coming in fast and furious, I’m getting offered all kinds of free product subscriptions, and, judging from my message content, I think my 15 minutes of fame have finally arrived! (Jun 09, 2010)
Here come the spam police
The German courts may have just opened the floodgates. Their top criminal court ruled this week that home wireless users can be held responsible for not password-protecting their wireless connections. If the unprotected connection is used for illegal file downloads, the owner can be fined up to 100 Euros (currently $126). (May 17, 2010)
Your mail server might not be the cause of delivery problems
Most support people have seen every mail server configuration possible, and others that would have been considered impossible. No matter whether the operating budget is very tight, mega-sized or somewhere in between, people often try to throw everything onto a single server, including the kitchen sink. Well, that kitchen sink is often the cause of email blockage, rather than the actual mail server program. Even a honking new machine with mega-sized specs can have performance problems if it becomes bloated with unnecessary and/or resource hogging apps. (May 03, 2010)
Why can’t you stop this spam?
Maybe you’ve seen more spam hitting your Inbox over the past couple of months and wondering, “Why am I paying for filtering? This stuff is obviously spam – why can’t you guys stop it?” The main challenges of being in the spam filtering business are dealing with clients’ expectations on the one hand, and the sheer size of the spam/malware machine on the other. (Apr 16, 2010)
Policy Compliance: Keep it Simple, Stupid!
Are you getting pressured to provide some sort of regulatory compliance rules to your business that will affect your network configuration, your email flow and your end users? Do you have to deal with SOX or HIPAA or GLBA, or ‘Oh Lord, not another Acronym’ regulation (we’ll call it the OLNAA) whose apparent sole purpose is to complicate your life? (Mar 24, 2010)
Spamhaus releases a new spam-fighting tool
Spamhaus publicly released its new Domain Block List (DBL)1earlier this week, after beta testing it for much of last year. They claim they have had “exceptionally positive” results from the testing, and the premise is really quite interesting. (Mar 03, 2010)
Who’s minding the store at WHOIS?
WHOIS (for those unfamiliar with it) is a system that provides free public access to domain name registration. Every domain name has to be registered with the following information: the registrant’s name, an administrative contact, a technical contact, and the name servers associated with each domain name. It’s all about traceability. (Feb 17, 2010)
How would you punish a spammer?
“Last time out I suggested sentencing spammers to some quality time in a maximum security cell with an ex-biker named "Tiny." But I think that's too good for these people. They should be strung up by their thumbs and forced to watch ShamWow infomercials and Rick Astley videos until their ears bleed.” Robert Cringely, InfoWorld 1 (Feb 03, 2010)
Spam: Surveying the Surveys
Another year has passed and it seems everyone is busy publishing their year-end security reviews, survey results, and fearless predictions for the upcoming year. (Jan 20, 2010)
How do you fix a bad reputation?
In an earlier post, I had written about the various security measures to take to prevent losing your good reputation.But what happens if you find yourself on someone’s blacklist? What do you do? (Jan 06, 2010)
One phish, two phish, red phish, blue phish
Typical phishing messages purport to originate from various financial institutions, delivery services, Facebook, and so on, all with the aim of getting you to click the enclosed link and disclose some personal information that can be abused. (Dec 16, 2009)
You only have one reputation – don’t lose it
Having a bad reputation might have seemed cool when you were a teenager, but if your email server has been given a bad rap, it’s definitely UNcool – especially if your business depends on delivering email. Trying to get your reputation back can be time consuming and costly, so the best approach is to do your utmost not to lose it in the first place. (Dec 02, 2009)
What, me worry?
Incidents of cybercrime via malware and exploits are on the rise, but if this recent poll is to be believed, people are still too blasé about their Internet security. The Unisys Security Index: Global Summary report 1 revealed the following: “Concerns over security in everything from online shopping and banking to safety from computer viruses, as well as national security along with personal and financial security, were significantly down over what was recorded half a year ago for populations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Netherlands, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. (Nov 18, 2009)
The Future Of Email Security: Where Do We Go From Here?
There’s no denying that anti-spam filters are imperative in the fight against junk mail and malware, but no single solution is fool-proof. Employing anti-spam and virus filters, stronger passwords, encryption, and so on, are not enough to win the battle against the ever-increasingly sophisticated attackers. (Nov 04, 2009)
More Recent News
Recent Spam Survey Winners
We are extremely pleased with the tremendous response that we have received to this point from our Fight Email Spam survey. As promised we have randomly selected winners of our gift card prizes. (Jan 23, 2012)
New Year's Resolution
We spend 8 to 10 (or more) hours a day at work - more time than we spend anywhere else - and our desks/workspaces are becoming our kitchen tables. But, do you realize that our desks are covered in more bacteria... (Jan 20, 2012)
Email Usage Survey
We are currently conducting a market research on email usage at work. Thank you for filling our this very short survey. (Jan 12, 2012)
