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Two Internet providers block major sender of junk e-mail
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Published: November 13, 2008
WASHINGTON -- The volume of junk e-mail sent worldwide may have dropped drastically yesterday after a Web-hosting company, identified by many in the computer-security community as a major host of organizations engaged in spam activity, was taken offline.
McColo, a Web-hosting company based in San Jose that computer-security experts say served as a U.S. staging ground for international firms that sell items from counterfeit pharmaceuticals to child pornography, ceased operations after two Internet providers blocked Web access. SecureWorks, an Atlanta security-services provider, estimates that McColo was responsible for 75 percent of all spam sent in the United States each day.
Global Crossing, a Bermuda company with U.S. operations in New Jersey and one of the two companies that provided Internet access to McColo, would not say why it cut off the company, but said that Global Crossing's policy prohibits "malicious activity." Hurricane Electric, a Fremont, Calif., company that served as McColo's other Internet provider, said it blocked McColo because of allegations made against McColo.
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