Security company loses spat with spammers

Spammers have forced anti-spam, anti-spyware company Blue Security to stop its spam war, according to a report in the Israeli business newspaper Globes.

"A small company from Israel does not have the capability of conducting a world war on the Internet," Blue Security's founder, Eran Reshef, told the newspaper in conceding the battle.

Blue Security's "Blue Frog" program enabled users to get revenge against junk e-mailers by spamming their spammers with a high volume of messages. The spammers declared war in April. They reportedly sent threatening e-mail messages to the company's list of customers, initiated a smear campaign and attacked associated Web sites, the report said.

Earlier this week the newspaper reported that hackers had stolen parts of the company's database to get customer e-mail addresses.

"You are being emailed because you are a Blue Security user. Blue Security's data base has now been distributed to the worst among spammers. Within 48 hours, the database will be published on the Internet, and your email will be open to a community of spammers," the e-mail customers received said, according to the report.

"After this, you will see that spam to your mailbox increases 10 (to) 20 fold. Blue Security was illegally attacking spammers, now spammers fight back. Remove Blue Frog from your tray to avoid getting more spam."

Reshef and the Blue Security board decided the harm to other Web sites was too great to continue the fight, according to the report.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International