These two scourges--spam and viruses--are related. Virus writers are increasingly likely to be members of organized crime; modern viruses surrender control of the infected computer to the virus author, who can either dig through it at leisure looking for confidential information (such as credit card numbers and online bankling information), or sell the infected computer's IP addresses to spammers (who then use the infected computer to relay spam) or to criminals who use the infected computer to attack or try to hack other computers (should law enforcement trace the attack back, they'll end up at the infected computer).

I've been getting increasingly aggressive over the years at tracking down and reporting spammers, and those who distribute viruses and malicious software. Recently, I've started recording the results of my anti-spam and anti-malware campaign. I'll likely be adding more information to these pages as time goes by, but right now, there are two things here:

The Wit and Wisdom of Art Schwartz

Art Schwartz is a spammer who runs a Web site called "Perfect Shareware" in which he claims that for a small fee, you can download illegal copies of all the bootleg software you could ever want. This is the email exchange between Art and I after I reported him for spamming.

Analysis of a VX2 Infection

This is my analysis, first published in my online journal, of an infection by a malicious piece of software known as VX2, with information about the individuals and companies that make money from malware.