Searching For John Doe: Finding Spammers and Phishers

Microsoft has prosecuted a vigorous civil enforcement campaign against spammers and phishers. When initial investigation into a spam or phishing case fails to reveal the identity of the person(s) responsible, filing a “John Doe” lawsuit and following up with thorough third-party discovery has been an effective strategy to unmask the perpetrator. 1 Meeting John Doe Spammers employ a variety of deceptive and fraudulent techniques to obfuscate their true identity. Such techniques include: forging email header data such as the From: and Reply-To: lines; using open proxies and/or infected zombie computers to retransmit mail; and registering beneficiary websites with false data or stolen credit card information. Consequently, it can be challenging for a spam recipient – whether an individual consumer or a sophisticated ISP investigator – to determine with certainty that a particular spammer was responsible for sending an illegal e-mail. This is significant because traditional legal ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: CEAS
• Authors: Aaron E. Kornblum
• Keywords: CEAS 2005, Doe Suit, John Doe, John Doe Spammers