I know you are all busy contributing on community driven websites, building a force of collective knowledge and working very hard in this new Web 2.0 world. So I'm here to give you a much needed break – in security at least! One of the most important things to cover first as we head into 2007 is spam control. There are many preventive measures that individual web hosts and data centers need to take and stay on top of. It's a good idea to keep yourself updated on trends by reading security sites and blogs on a regular basis. Browsing through the comments on the latest post in Bob Sullivan's blog has me amazed. Some of the readers posed interesting ideas on how to combat spam while some only left me baffled! Ideas ranged from charging everyone 5 cents to send an email, requiring Internet users to take a test to get an "Internet License" and to the very bold and simple solution of, "If ISP's don't police their customers, then they should be shut down." Case in point, one commenter confidently stated: "Internet providers [in the Netherlands] are mandated to cooperate, but are happy to do so since spam costs them dearly in bandwidth and blockages from foreign servers (especially from the US). Oddly enough, most spam these days does not come from servers in distant Pacific Islands, but from the US. So, US government: flex your muscles!" While another commenter challenged spammers to launch an attack against his inbox: "BRING IT ON! I don't care if there is spam! The spam just doesn't get past my defenses and it is nearly all an automated process. I'm not hit by malware, phishers or trojans and most of that is canned before I even see it. Maybe I am just very different because I am a responsible computer and Internet user. I guess I won't make the headlines, because I am never plundered." Until everyone masters his spam fu, hosts and data centers must do their part to outsmart the spammers and scammers, and to help Internet users understand the "why and how" of it all. Most of us are already doing a superb job, but there are some serious problems lingering out there without answers. Have you ever noticed that Verizon houses nearly 100 ROKSO spammers? Verizon's Spamhaus records go back to 2002 with the help of leftover MCI listings. Why are they allowing these organizations to operate freely in their turf? This is what I am trying to find out. To know that larger corporations are not doing their part is disappointing as we work so diligently on the sidelines. I am currently doing research with Spamhaus right now and in my next article I hope to shine more light on this. I want to give a sense of what responsibility really means to us as web hosts and to all Internet users.More About Kayla
About Kayla Selans
As a director at Surpass Hosting, Kayla has experience in all areas of web hosting from conducting market research to securing server environments. Kayla has worked with Internet companies for ten years and has been involved in the web hosting industry since 2002. Under Kayla's direction, Surpass has reached record growth each year.
Through her theWHIR blog Kayla will focus on the benefits of attaining and maintaining a secure hosting environment as well as offer insight into the current and future state of the web hosting industry.
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