From: Subject: [BNUG News] BNUG Monthly E-mail Reminder Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 21:24:50 +0000 ******************************************************************** Boston Network Users Group Monthly General Meeting Tuesday - February 8th, 2005 6:30-9:00PM New England Institute Conference Center Mount Ida College Newton, Massachusetts THIS MONTH: --> Richard Smith <-- Over the past two years, virus writers and spammers have joined forces to make a major assault on our email inboxes. To get around spam black lists, Internet worms created by computer virus writers have taken over millions of home PCs to act as spam zombies for blasting out spam email messages. In many cases, home computer users are not even aware that their PCs are now part of the spam problem. The move to high-speed broadband connections has made the problem much worse and computer security industry figures now show that more than two thirds of spam originates from zombie computers. Richard's talk will focus on who is behind the Internet worms that create spam zombies, how money is made off of spam zombies, and what can be done about the problem. * Richard is an Internet privacy and security consultant based in Boston, Massachusetts. He works primarily with the media, policy makers, and law enforcement to interpret Internet technologies. He has more than 30 years of experience in the computer software field. He is also the former president of Phar Lap Software and the former Chief Technology Officer of the Privacy Foundation. * So come to Mount Ida College's New England Institute Center on Tuesday, February 8th and hear about the darker side of the Internet, the creatures who inhabit it, and what's being done to keep them in check. This is your opportunity to get educated about the sources of the tidal wave of spam which threatens to overwhelm your network. Refreshments are served from 6:30 pm. Meeting starts at 7:00 pm with the technical presentation concluding at 9:00 pm. -0-0-0- BNUG monthly meetings, membership and refreshments are always FREE and you are not required to be a member to attend. If you wish to join BNUG, are interested in more information, or need directions to BNUG's meeting place at Mount Ida College in Newton, please visit the BNUG web site at: < http://www.bnug.org > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- FUTURE MEETINGS Here is the a tentative schedule of what's being planned for future BNUG meetings: March 8 Portal Servers Presented by Alpha NetSolutions April 12 The Massachusetts technology job outlook Presented by Winter Wyman May 9 To be announced Refreshments are served from 6:30pm. Meetings start at 7:00pm and conclude at 9:00pm. BNUG meetings and membership are always free. -0-0-0- BNUG thanks ADDISON-WESLEY for providing the fine technical and professional books that are GIVEN AWAY by random drawing at many of BNUG's meetings. -0-0-0- *************************************************************** * * * THIS JUST IN.... * * * * Mark Kushinsky, VP of BNUG and owner of MDS Computer * * Solutions, will be presenting information on Internet * * Security and infection prevention on Thursday, February * * 24th from 6:30-8:30PM at the Wales French Room of the * * Stoughton Library. * * * * Light refreshments courtesy of Panera Bread has been * * arranged by the Stoughton Chamber of Commerce who is a * * co-sponsor of the event. There is no cost but seating is * * very limited so please email Mark at or * * and let him know ASAP if you would * * like to attend. * * * *************************************************************** -0-0-0- To opt out of this monthly e-mail reminder or change your BNUG e- mail preferences, go to: . -0-0-0- Here are some handy links to other Southern New England user groups in which you may be interested: Mid New England NetWare Users (CT) http://midne.tripod.com/ Southern New England Network Users Group (RI) http://www.snenug.org/ Northern Vermont NetWare Users Group http://www.nvnug.org/ Netware Users International http://www.nuinet.com/ Mac Woburn Users Group http://www.macwoburn.org/ Worcester Computer Society http://www.wcsonline.org/ Boston Area Windows 2000 Server Users Group http://www.windows2000boston.com/ Boston Area Exchange Server Users Group http://www.exchangeserverboston.com Boston Linux and UNIX Users Group http://www.blu.org/ New England Palm Users Group http://www.ne-palm.org/ The Boston Area Users Group Calendar http://www.bugc.org/ New England Information Security Users Group. http://www.neisug.com Link o' the month: Could your computer be a criminal? http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3078454/ ******************************************************************** (c) 2005 Boston Network Users Group ********************************************************************