For
Release: January
29, 2004
FTC
and International Agencies Announce “Operation Secure
Your Server”
Campaign Urges Organizations
to Close Open Relays and Proxies to Prevent Them from Unwittingly
Sending Spam
The United States Federal Trade Commission
and 36 additional agencies in 26 countries today announced
“Operation Secure Your Server,” an international
effort to reduce the flow of unsolicited commercial e-mail
by urging organizations to close “open relays”
and “open proxies.” As part of the initiative,
the participating agencies have identified tens of thousands
of owners or operators of potentially open relay or open proxy
servers around the world, and the agencies are sending letters
urging the owners and operators to protect themselves from
becoming unwitting sources of spam.
Open relays and open proxies are servers
that allow any computer in the world to “bounce”
or route e-mail through servers of other organizations, thereby
disguising the real origin of the e-mail. Spammers often abuse
these servers to flood the Internet with unwanted e-mail.
Their abuses not only overload servers, but also could damage
an unwitting business’ reputation if it appears that
the business sent the spam.
“Operation Secure Your Server”
provides businesses with simple, inexpensive ways to protect
their computer systems from misuse. The FTC suggests that
businesses consider these questions to determine whether their
proxy servers are vulnerable:
- Does your proxy allow connections from
untrusted networks such as the Internet?
- Are you using the most current version
of your proxy software and hardware?
- Have you applied the latest available
patches or upgrades?
- Are you using proper access controls
for your server?
- Is someone regularly checking for unauthorized
uses of your proxy server?
- Do you have and monitor an “abuse@<yourdomain>”
e-mail account where people can report abuses of your proxy
server?
“International cooperation is going
to play an important role in combating spam, as this project
clearly demonstrates,” said Howard Beales, Director
of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. Moreover,
“government cannot solve the spam problem on its own;
everyone with an Internet connection must do their part to
make sure that they are part of the solution and not part
of the problem.”
The FTC has created a Web page, www.ftc.gov/secureyourserver,
that contains information for businesses on how to protect
themselves from becoming unwitting distributors of spam. In
addition to the agencies’ letter, which is available
in 21 languages, the site contains business education and
links to other resources.
The FTC and agencies in Albania, Argentina,
Australia, Canada, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia,
Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Hungary, Jamaica, Japan, Lithuania,
Norway, Panama, Peru, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea,
Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom are sponsoring
this initiative.
This year’s “Operation Secure
Your Server” follows on the heels of last year’s
campaign against open relays, when the FTC and participating
national and international agencies identified businesses
with potential open relays, urged them to close the relays,
and sent information on how to do so.
The FTC works for the consumer to prevent
fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the
marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot,
stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint, or to get free
information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free,
1-877-FTC-HELP (1 877-382-4357), or use the complaint form
at http://www.ftc.gov.
The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and
other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure,
online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal
law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Jen Schwartzman
Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2674
STAFF CONTACT:
Markus Heyder or Don Blumenthal
202-326-2644 or 202-326-2255
(http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/01/opsecure.htm)
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