Have you received spam from the Brims.co.uk domain?

We have become aware that spammers are using the Brims.co.uk domain to send out unsolicited emails.

Despite the appearance to the contrary, Brims.co.uk is not responsible for the e-mails in any way. We very much regret that so many people have been inconvenienced. Please be assured that we are doing everything possible to resolve it.

None of the emails have any association with our site other than the fact that their originator chose to forge an e-mail address to make it look as if it is coming from us. The term used to describe this is "collateral SPAM".

The technique being used is:

1. The SPAM perpetrator obtains a "throwaway" account on one of the numerous ISPs worldwide that offer untraceable mail services.
2. The perpetrator constructs mail messages which are directed to large numbers of addresses. The headers of the messages are tampered with to omit the name of the recipient(s) and to make the "From:" header look as if the message originated from a bogus address in completely unrelated (and innocent) domain. In this case the unrelated domain is brims.co.uk.
3. The perpetrator, in forging the sending address, ensures that he or she can receive little or no comeback, and that the frustration and anger of the recipients is directed towards the innocent third party. Although some indication of the true culprit exists in the message header, most recipients do not see it, or do not have the expertise to extract it. The perpetrator thus cloaks his or her identity quite effectively.
4. The perpetrator will have bought or otherwise obtained a list of addresses to which the SPAM is being sent. Inevitably some of these addresses no longer exist. The receiving mail systems then reject such messages, but instead of telling the SPAM sender, the rejections are sent to the innocent site, which causes yet more problems.

Our ISP, FutureServers.net are working to identify the ISPs who are providing the accounts used by the SPAM perpetrators. However, this is a very difficult process.

You can find more information about collateral spam at http://www.ja.net/mail/junk/collateral.html