In the last few months i’ve seen large number of nigerians attempting to spam my site coming from AOL. Not sure what to make of it but it looks like either AOL’s users are having their computers hijacked or AOL’s Proxy servers are being used by nigerians. At any rate when i look at their accounts they’ve got a AOL email address, AOL brower and US ip address it makes it hard to tell who is legitimate or not from AOL.
If someone from AOL is reading this here is one of the IP’s being used 207.200.116.20. AOL has gotten real bad the last few weeks, I can only imagine how much grief they are causing myspace.
**Update***
Someone in the comments said AOL is allowing anyone to use their proxy servers ? I can’t see this being true. If its true and they aren’t passing on the http_forwarded_for then expect AOL to be mass blocked/restricted as it becomes a haven for criminals.
January 6, 2007 at 1:35 am |
[...] The Paradigm Shift Technorati Tags: Security, [...]
January 6, 2007 at 1:39 am |
It’s because AOL is free now. Anyone can make an account and use their proxy.
January 6, 2007 at 1:40 am |
Isn’t AOL going non-subscription now? I believe they just hand out AOL email addresses to anyone. Something like this was a pretty inevitable consequence.
January 6, 2007 at 4:26 am |
Markus,
They are allowing people to use their proxy, but I don’t know if they are passing on http_forwarded_for.
If you want you can try and test it.
Create an account at:
http://free.aol.com/thenewaol/index.adp
And then download their software and sign on to use their proxy.
January 6, 2007 at 10:44 pm |
[...] Interesting post by Markus wondering whether AOL had been hacked. [...]
January 6, 2007 at 11:31 pm |
It’s a bit bizzarre as AOL is totally geared up to prevent spamming. If they get deluged they don’t block the individual IP address they block the entire ISP.
Maybe you should give them a shout.
January 6, 2007 at 11:47 pm |
[...] Marcus Frind posts about that AOL might be hacked. [...]
January 8, 2007 at 4:18 am |
Ya they are
January 8, 2007 at 6:41 pm |
is yahoo getting rid of it’s overture search facility? if yes, are there any alternatives? right now, it’s not working all that well. it’s taking a long time to download anything.
January 10, 2007 at 10:23 am |
Have you read this yet?
http://www.chrisohara.org/?p=12
Hacked, yes indeed.
August 9, 2007 at 3:27 am |
[...] Marcus of Plenty of Fish is dealing with AOL redirects sending him Nigerian phishing scams, as well. He writes: …it looks like either AOL’s users are having their computers hijacked or AOL’s Proxy servers are being used by nigerians. At any rate when i look at their accounts they’ve got a AOL email address, AOL brow[s]er and US ip address it makes it hard to tell who is legitimate or not from AOL. If someone from AOL is reading this here is one of the IP’s being used 207.200.116.20. AOL has gotten real bad the last few weeks, I can only imagine how much grief they are causing myspace. [...]
March 29, 2008 at 9:26 pm |
i was blocked by aol because someone said a whole bunch of things under my name. i tried to talk to aol and they said i have to write a letter in…..pretty messed up…….i am guilty in their eyes when their program allows others to take your identity
March 29, 2008 at 9:27 pm |
i wrote them a letter and a month later still waiting for someone to even respond
August 3, 2008 at 12:04 am |
AOL IS FULL WITH SPYWARE AS FAR AS I CAN TELL I HAVE HAD ALOT OF PROBLEMS WITH IT I DONT NO WHATS GOING ON BUT IM READY TO GET RID OF THIS SHIT
August 3, 2008 at 5:03 pm |
My shit got hacked just a little bit ago. I used to pay for aol for about 12 years. And just when I cancel my crap gets stollen and no one will help because they just keep saying that I am not a paying customer. I need help on what to do. My account is very important with vital things such as bank statements and such. I need some one to Hack it back for me HA. or some things I am do thank you.