Spamhaus: Google Now 4th Most Spam-Friendly Provider

Google's free services are being heavily exploited by spammers to redirect visitors to sites touting knockoff designer drugs and scams, according to the latest rankings from Spamhaus.org, a group that tracks unsolicited commercial e-mail.

Last month, Security Fix called attention to Microsoft's persistent ranking on Spamhaus's running list of the "Top 10 Worst Spam Service ISPs". Now that Microsoft has cleaned up its act, it appears the bad guys are moving on to Google, which is now ranked #4 on the list (#1 being the worst).

"Microsoft got rid of the bad guys, and off they went to Google, which is now hosting a lot of the stuff that was on Microsoft's domains," said Richard Cox, Spamhaus's chief information officer.

Other Internet providers, including Sprint and Verizon, currently round out the #8 and #10 slots on the Top 10 list, respectively.

According to Spamhaus, spammers are using Google Documents to host pages that redirect to rogue pharmacy sites. The anti-spam group also documents a number of Google e-mail accounts being used to further so called "advance fee" or Nigerian 419 confidence scams.

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News 1 year ago