Leader: Turning the gun on the spam busters

The war against spam is taking an interesting turn. The spammers are starting to run scared.

We're not talking endgame just yet, but they seem to have acknowledged that their days are numbered. We know this because their motives are turning from financial gain to a spiteful 'we'll take you down with us' attitude towards the anti-spam industry.

This is nothing new, but the number of incidences would appear to be on the increase. Typically recipients will receive an email which contains no special offers - no generic Viagra, no miracle weight loss pills, no pay-per-view exposé of Paris Hilton (isn't that a hotel?).

Instead the call to arms is an invitation to email. One such instance seen by silicon.com in the past couple of days warns the recipient that they are about to be sent several CDs containing child pornography which they have ordered.

Realising that they haven't ordered any such CDs the recipient may be tempted to email the address provided in the event that 'you have received this message in error or did not order these items'.

The address given is that of anti-spam organisation Spamhaus. And the penny drops.

The email also includes links to the Spamhaus website offering porn to suit all tastes.

This spammer isn't after financial gain. The motivation here is solely to bombard Spamhaus with clicks and angry emails in an attempt to bring down its servers.

These are the actions of a desperate spammer - and a clear indication to Spamhaus that it has these criminals rattled.

As long as users are aware of these ploys and don't fall for them then Spamhaus will be able to continue its work unhindered.

The spammers are now on the ropes - fingers crossed the knock out punch won't be too slow in coming.