Web Hosting Blog

To run a successful web hosting business one must be capable of Identifying the fraudsters who wish to order a particular web hosting package. Efficient management is essential for the smooth functioning of the web hosting business.

Here are few ways of that would help to identify the fraud orders and keep away the fraudsters spoil the business.

Verification Of The IP Address

Verification of the IP address is the first step in the order verification process. Almost every billing software shows the IP address and other information such as the host name of the IP, the country of the person placing an order with the web hosting company. Another way of checking the information is through a third party service such as the WHOIS service (www.whois.sc) or www.ip2location. Once the information is displayed, the country of the origin of the IP and the country mentioned in the order needs to be verified. The state and city details too can be cross checked. If the details matches then the order can be sent for processing. If the details does not match then its clear that the order is fraudulent. Incase you receive such an order then it should be marked as fraud and the order should be terminated.

Domain Name Verification

With the use of the third party whois service, users can get the whois details. Using these details of the person ordering the web hosting package can be cross checked for the physical address and E-mail address mentioned in the order. Genuine orders will have the details matching to the ones mentioned in the order. Yet sometimes there is a chance that the details does not match, in that case we cannot come to the conclusion that the order is fraud as the domain name might have been purchased through a company address. Hence, the domain name verification has some restrictions. In case the domain name seems senseless, then there is wide possibility that the order is a fraud order.

Disable Auto Sign-ups

If the web hosting company has enabled the facility of auto sign-ups on its web-site then a fraudster may sing-up and send spam or install Trojans or viruses for phishing purpose before you getting time to recover from the damage. So, it is recommended that the auto account creation facility should be disabled.

Usage of Third Party Fraud Detection Plugins

A web hosting company can use make the use of a third party service such as MaxMind. It is a fraud scanning software which is integrated in the billing software. It helps to identify fraud orders automatically (Note: It is not 100% fool proof).

Phone/FAX verification

Web hosting firms can give a call on the contact number provided in the order details for the purpose of identifying between fraud orders and genuine orders.

Even after every careful steps are adopted by the web hosting company, fraud orders is a never ending problem. There is no completely fool proof solution for fraud orders. But, following the above tips helps reduce the fraud order sign-ups upto a large extent.

Now-a-days, spoofing has become a very common technique in viruses adopted by spammers. There is no fool proof technique to avoid spammers spam the inbox with unwanted e-mails. In spoofing it is not necessary that the spammer is using your mail server to spoof your mailbox.

E-mail spoofing

The spammers sends a genuine e-mail to the user who is soon going to fall prey to spamming, this helps the attacker to ensure his/her existence over the web. If the mail does not bounce back that means the victims e-mail id is genuine.

The web user can fall prey to spoofing in the following ways:

Through a Virus : The virus takes the email address from an infected senders address book. It appears as if the email has come from a known user. This is the most common way of spoofing.

To stop such kind of spamming is to seek the infected users computer but it is virtually impossible.

Spam Spoofing : Some spammers send email and changing the return address to spoof someone else’s email account.

One thing to be noted is that the spammer here does not use the mail server, he just changes the reply to address in his email to spoof.

Internet users can block unwanted Spam mails using simple steps.

Follow the below procedure to activate the E-mail filter.

1. Select the E-mail filtering link in the mail area.
2. Click on Add Filter
3. From the drop down list select the header field. They are the different fields in any e-mail message’s.
4. From the second drop down list select the required filter. The action will take effect on the text entered in the third field.

• Equals- Match the text exactly
• Matches regex- It matches the text based on regular expression rules. These expressions are powerful but complex.
• Contains- It matches certain text in any circumstance. Example- porn would block pornography and porn.
• Begins with- It matches the specified text in the beginning of the word.

5. Now enter the filter text in the third field. Be careful as the text is case sensitive.

6.  Now one needs to enter the destination for the filtered e-mail address in the Destination field. The destination fields are of three types :

• Destroy the E-mail : In the field enter Discard.
• Redirect To another address : Enter the email address where the spam needs to be directed.
• Redirect to a script : Enter the complete script path on the machine that hosts the website.

7. Click Activate tab.

For any further assistance please feel free to mail us on support@micfo.com

After the closure of a Web Hosting firm there has been a drastic reduction in the amount of junk mails. It is believed that the Web hosting firm has clients from spam gangs.

After an investigation two US internet service providers identified the Web Hosting firm named “McColo” was hosting clients websites from the spam gangs. There was almost 70% reduction in the amount of junk mails.

The Washington Post had been observing data from McColo since four months, it passed on the data to two internet service providers Global Crossing and Hurricane Electric. According to Message Labs 90% spam is due to botnets.

Computer scientists from University of California, Berkeley and UC, San Diego found that spammers manage to turn a profit despite getting a response to single mail reply out of 12.5m emails sent.

Spam is a ever-present fact of life now a days. It is a simple way of reaching vast audiences. If spam’s wouldn’t have worked then spammers may not have wasted their time.

There are multiple ways of blocking spam’s. The rule of “Prevention is Better Than cure” can prove to best in case of spam’s. One should avoid giving out the e-mail address to unknown sources. Though this technique won`t always work as spammers might use software’s that that trolls the internet searching of e-mail addresses. Today most of us shop online and for that a valid e-mail id is essential. This is a loop hole for getting unwanted spam mails. So a simple way is to have more than one e-mail addresses. Thanks to various mail services as we need not pay for the services.

Another way of avoiding spam’s is using e-mail application’s filtering features. The e-mail applications allows blocking a specific message. When such an unwanted e-mail reaches your Inbox set the filter to Block further incoming messages from the sender.

Spammers use catchy phrases to excite the users to click on a particular URL. It would not always be true about what the title of the URL says. Clicking on the link confirms the authentication of your e-mail account to be true. This way you are more vulnerable to spamming. It might also happen that one spammer sells your e-mail address to another spammer.

Another simple way is accepting spams’s and just delete it if a spam mail hits the inbox.

There are many ways to avoid unsolicited e-mails or spam mails. But some of the most effective ways are given below.

The e-mail address that you create should not be predictable. An e-mail address such as weblovers@domain.com can be easily spammed and then you start receiving the spam mails. Another way to avoid spam mails is by not submitting your e-mail address online or publicly. Doing so spam bots can easily find your e-mail address and your e-mail address easily gets added to the spam list.

You can use a contact form instead of publishing your e-mail address online.

It is always recommended that you have two e-mail addresses. If you sign-up for a service that requires you to submit your e-mail address and if you are not very sure of their e-mail policy, you can give your second mail address which would keep your primary mail account spam free. Then at a later stage if you are assured of the company, you can anytime give them your primary mail address.

You allow spammers to spam your account in case you have turned On the Catchall option in the control panel. Doing so spammers will spam your catchall account all soon it will be filled with multiple spam mails. Many mail servers verify sender addresses before accepting any e-mails. If you find that the catchall setting is enabled then don’t forget to reset it and make it “Send all catchall e-mails to :fail:”. Doing so will not allow spammers to use your domain name in the spamming scripts.

Another important way to avoid spam is having a spam protection on the server. Having a SpamAssasin is very effective in identifying and removing spam e-mails, before it reaches you mail box.

Thousands of Virgin customers are facing problem with their e-mail accounts after a suspected spam attack. The problem has affected the company that processes messages delivered through the Virgin.net platform.

The attack started on Tuesday evening which affected the e-mail service of Virgin Media. Now though the fault is cleared and the e-mails are delivered, as said by the spokesman of Virgin Media.

Approximately half of 200,000 customers of Virgin.net were affected due to the spam attacks. After trying to log into the mail service users got error messages. Virgin.net Media assured the customers that no mails were lost.

Other Internet service providers (ISP) were also affected by the spam attack but nothing has been reported till now.

Virgin Media spokesman said that there might be a delay in the delivery of e-mails due to stacks of mails waiting in the queue.

None of the cable service users were affected as said by Virgin spokesman.