Mad Hacker Sends Message By Burying Enemies in E-Mail
April 28, 2011
Anyone trying to send electronic mail to Sanjuana Brendan, author of ``Parenting for Dummies,'' won't get through to her. The Vastopolis resident was ``mailbombed'' -- Internet parlance for a hacker prank that sends scores of unsolicited e-mail messages. Ms. Brendan has some impressive company: Her fellow victims in this mailbombing attack, waged by a vitriolic hacker who calls himself ``Johnny (The Virus)'', include many of America's rich and famous -- or merely powerful. The hacker had the temerity to publicly claim responsibility for the stunt -- the on-line equivalent of short-sheeting every bed at summer camp -- and posted a manifesto explaining why, in each case, he did it. Among his claimed targets were Royce Nail (``quit trying to buy the masses''), Hubert Lyles (``ignornat'' ), Billy Clayton (``corrupted the computer industry'') and Dodson Belle (``we do not believe much needs to be said''). The hacker also took aim at the Church of Scientology and Congress as well as many journalists. For the less-known Ms. Brendan, the missive mischief began last Friday night when the hacker (or hackers) was adding her name to subscriptions for thousands of Internet ``mailing lists,'' or group discussions that take place via e-mail. Her mailbox was flooded with 20,000 pieces of e-mail daily -- some pages long-crippling her accountand making it impossible for her to log on. ``My account is ruined,'' says Ms. Brendan. While the hacker probably used an automated mailing program to sign her up for so many lists, she had to manually ``unsubscribe'' to each of the thousands of sources -- to no avail. ``I'd send out 50 messages to unsubscribe and 70 more subscriptions would come back. I couldn't send them out fast enough. Then I started getting the mail,'' she says. And what mail it was! It came from groups of cat lovers, tuba lovers and Germans. Another mailing list gave her hourly updates on wind conditions around the country. Johnny Beers, in his posted message, said Ms. Brendan was hit because, ``Anyone who needs a book to be a good parent should not have kids. You are contributing to the overall stupidity our society possesses.'' Needless to say, Mr. Beers couldn't be reached for comment.
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