Category: Websites

BlackHat video: Xrumer, the forum spamming software

Ever wanted to see how one of the many available (PMBlaster, Zunker, Xrumer etc.) forum spamming software looks and runs like ?

See Xrumer in action.

What’s interesting to see in the video above, from the WhiteHat point of view, is how the program works. The procedures, the checklists, the options, so you can build your own anti-spam blockade.

Some of you guys, will be amazed to see how captchas and/or math spam questions are like so … 1945.

Important: Please be aware that I do NOT endorse, NOR do I recommend the use of such spamming software, except for your own, personal and private use, to see how the program functions. As one user says in this WP article about Xrumer, you have to know the enemy and the weapons used by the enemy before you can defend against them.

How to get a link from an .edu domain (part 2)

Just go to the Harvard H2O Playlist Beta project, register an account and make a “Playlist”. Then point a link towards that page.

That way you get Wedding Favors and Lord of the Rings Online Guides and Exploits and not :

H2O playlists are more than just a cool, sleek technology — they represent a new way of thinking about education online. An H2O Playlist is a series of links to books, articles, and other materials that collectively explore an idea or set the stage for a course, discussion, or current event.

But wait there’s more : Dirspace directory (no offense intended to the owner, but that’s how directories “get” that SeoMoz PageStrength ?) and Viagra (of course through ezinearticles.com).

And this on top of my other posts about .edu spam:

How to get unlimited links and content on a .edu domain

Each day I’m getting so many spam comments, with links to files hosted on .edu domains. I am wondering, how are these people getting access to them ? Most of the time they put a certain URL in their comment URL field, as well as in the body, that lead to redirects to porn websites. Here is an example :

.edu spam

The .edu link above redirects to : http://italianpiacere.com/ (warning, it’s p0rn).

Why aren’t these things under control ? I found spam on .edu domains in the past too. On a much greater scale.

I decided to see how the heck this(ese) dude(s) managed to do this spam. It’s EASY. Just go to cdm.berkeley.edu which is a Wiki. Click on upload file (lower left toolbar) and there you go. Have a look at that SPAM and p0rn. As a total unauthorised person, you can upload any file, link to it, redirect it, etc.

The amount of spam generated in this way on .edu domains is unacceptable. Schools should REALLY enforce security on what their students can do (if this was done by a student). Or maybe the whole subdomain + the wiki (not just the upload of pages) were created by someone with access to the servers, with the sole reason in mind, to spam.

Insoft.ro banned from Google

The online IT&C store, Insoft, was recently banned from Google. See it (or not) here.

This could be because they recently (2-3 months ago) purchased site-wide text links all over Softpedia, Kappa, Acasa, Legaturi and other huge romanian or international portals.

It seems that the recent SEO spam filters, which Google is applying to non-english websites, are prooving to be effective as Matt Cuts states here and here.

Users who find themselves banned from Google, can always fill in a reinclusion request form.

Edit 02.02.2006: It seems to me that they recently (as shown in this Google Groups discussion ) duplicated their whole notebook category and sub-categories, in a 100% similar category, by replacing only the word “notebook” with the word “laptop”, in the new laptop category. This too might be one of the reasons for their website banning.

As always, i really want to warn the owners of the websites that currently have site-wide links towards the online store Insoft, about removing their links. Websites that link to other penalised/banned websites, can at their own turn, be penalised or banned.

As for the theory that “someone who hates me, banned my site somehow” , here is the answer from Google Webmaster Facts :

  • Fiction: A competitor can ruin a site’s ranking somehow or have another site removed from Google’s index.
  • Fact: There’s almost nothing a competitor can do to harm your ranking or have your site removed from our index. Your rank and your inclusion are dependent on factors under your control as a webmaster, including content choices and site design.

If I find more, i’ll post it here.