On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 9:56 PM, Rubens Kuhl <rubensk@gmail.com> wrote:
comeonspammer32767@wannahaveapieceofme.com, dynamically generated to match a download session, and suddenly this account starts to get spam... well... yes.. doesn't help much if the token being abused is the admin POC's phone number, however. A session-based generated token alone would not be a very robust form of accountability; it is only as good as the strength of the verification required to get an account (and the confidence that multiple accounts do not collude).
A user might simply sign up twice or more using fake signup details, they can compare their different downloads, and screen out any records that changed between the several sessions. e.g. grab 3 copies of thesame file (that were obtained using 3 different logins, from 3 different countries), run a 3-way diff, strip out any lines that changed. Any session-specific token would be excluded... That is, if obtaining such a listing of e-mail addresses is even is worth it to them. Maybe it is not. Maybe the more common abuse is manual solicitation by a human being, trying to sell some high-margin product targeted at enterprises in the directory, who can easily recognize "comeonspammer" and stay away. I doubt the average POC is going to be duped by the pill salesmen, latest money making scam, too-good-to-be-true offer, go phish attempt, or other standardized junk mail. -- -J