Messenger spam
I’m long accustomed to e-mail spam. I’m even getting used to the occasional Instant Messenger spam. Well, those industrious spammers have found another medium. It’s called “messenger spam“. Not to be confused with AOL or MSN Instant Messenger, messenger is installed and enabled by default on all Windows XP/NT/2000 systems. No additional software is required. It is usually used to send network messages, like “your virus software is being updated” or “your printout is ready for you at the printer”. Spammers have started using it to send advertisements for their porn sites.
I discovered how to send these a couple years ago and occasionally use it harass my co-workers. Now’s your opportunity to harass me. If my home machine is turned on, you can send a message by running a command like this:
net send h00023a89251e.ne.client2.attbi.com “You hoser!”
At work, our firewall will block messages coming in from outside the building. If you’re inside the firewall, you can send me an annoying message like this:
net send simoneaum “You hoser!”
It’s just that easy! Fortunately, I have no legitimate use for these messages and the service is easy to disable. Get your kicks in now. I’m fixin’ to plug this hole in a couple days.
December 3rd, 2002 at 9:24 pm
My favorite:
net send machine “Press ok to close this window”
BTW, this is a really annoying type of spam attack. This spam thing is getting out of control…
January 4th, 2003 at 5:38 pm
Hey, you didn’t tell us how to turn it off!
January 6th, 2003 at 8:51 am
You just need to shut off the service. On Windows XP, NT, or 2000 go into “Administrative Tools > Services” and look for Messenger. Double click it to stop the service and change the startup type to “Disable”.
January 8th, 2003 at 5:05 am
yep, within 5 minutes of installing XP i got a few of those … i was on a cable connection on 98SE for over 6 months … i guess they “accumulated” my ip address …
also, the XP firewall blocks them nicely …
February 18th, 2003 at 3:11 pm
Here’s how to disable this beast…good luck.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330904
May 4th, 2003 at 7:15 pm
Hey - how can I use this Messenger service to send a message to a computer of my choice (to surprise them)? I get the ent send part, and the message, but how do you direct it to a specific computer? Ex: net send xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hi Bob! Guess Who! (What replaces the “x”s??)
June 12th, 2003 at 2:15 am
It’s easy if you can find away to get their computer’s “name” without them knowing. You can find it by going to Start>Control Panel>Sytem>Computer Name Tab (on their comp, of course).
Don’t try to send to what is in the text box, you must send it to what is in the ‘Full Computer Name’ field.
Then just run a NET SEND computername Hi Bob! Guess Who!