what to do about joe-jobs?

Thu Sep 25 07:10:11 UTC 2003

On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu wrote:
> On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 13:10:43 CDT, Stephen L Johnson <stephen.johnson at mail.state.ar.us>  said:
> > Please forgive my ignorance, but what is a "joe-job"?
> 
> http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/gDefinition/0,294236,sid14_gci917469,00.html

This is amusing because we hosted joes.com at that time (and still do) and
the other day I heard the term and speculated as to whether it could have
come from the attack on joes.com back then.

The URL above is accurate.  To correct a mistaken impression that the
ensuing DOS attack was a result of the bounces, the bounces were easily
handled.  The email sent out was an example of effective social
engineering designed to make the recipients mad enough to attack the
perceived sender.  Of the over a million angry recipients, some had the
technical know how to lash out.  Think of it as a smart weapon where the
weapon used is borrowed minds engaged by use of a meme.

Job jobbing is a layer 9 algorithm (the program is the message people read
and what it causes them to do) that is made possible by the ability of a
spammer to forge their identity as that of their intended victim.

Mike.

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