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• September 17, 2002 - Infrastructure Upgrade - ACS has installed a new e-mail server. This new machine will not actually house any mail boxes. Its job will be to accept incoming/outgoing messages from/to the Internet, filter them for spam, and deliver acceptable messages to the e-mail servers that house our customers' mailboxes. This methodology allows the servers that house the mailboxes to operate with greater security and efficiency because they're not exposed directly to the Internet. This new server is a Pentium 4 class machine with 1 Gigabyte of memory and RAID-5. We've been watching this server very closely since putting it into production and early indications are that it's very fast!
  
  
• September 12, 2002 - ACS Subscribes to NJABL - In the ongoing effort to fight spam, ACS has subscribed to a "DNS-delivered Blackhole List" also known as a DNSBL. A DNSBL is a database of Internet addresses that are known to be sources of spam. As a subscriber to such a list, we are able to check servers that try to deliver mail to our customers and see if they're a known source of spam. If they are, their e-mail will be blocked. There are many DNSBL's out there; we chose "Not Just Another Bogus List" for their conservative, objective, and empirical methods for inclusion on their list. They have a vigilant and responsive staff of volunteers who tirelessly update the list, constantly adding new offenders as well as reviewing and removing entries that are shown to have restored their legitimacy. Just in the first few days after implementing the list, NJABL helped us filter out thousands of spam messages that would likely have polluted our customers' mailboxes.
  
  
• September 5, 2002 - News from ACS about spam - The Problem: Unsolicited commercial e-mail (also known as spam) During the last six months, we have seen an astonishing increase in the amount of spam coming into our network. So much so, in fact, that we'll soon be adding a new e-mail server to handle the increased traffic. We know how frustrating this is. Like our clients, we depend on e-mail to do business and vehemently detest spam. What we're doing about it: Recently, we at ACS have been working very hard to beef up our defenses against spam. We have combed through a great deal of the spam that has been coming into our network and have created a list of nearly 400 domain names that are associated with the most prolific and egregious spammers. These domain names include obvious garbage like "top-special-offers.com," and "fantasticdealsonline.com" as well as some other not-so-obvious offenders. Since putting this additional filter list into place, we've seen a significant decrease in the amount of spam making it into our mailboxes. And we hope that you're seeing an improvement too. In addition to this latest effort, ACS is planning other innovative approaches to spam prevention and defense which we'll announce as we roll them out. In the meantime, we would encourage you to take a look at the top 5 things you can do to defend yourself against spam.
  
  Top 5 things you can do to defend yourself against spam:
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  1. Never, ever answer spam. Not only would you be putting yourself at risk for a scam, you're rewarding the spammer for their actions. As long as spam makes money for the offenders, it will continue.
  2. Do not follow directions to "unsubscribe" or "have yourself removed from the list." Spammers often sound apologetic for spamming you and offer to immediately remove your e-mail address form their list if you follow their directions. More often than not, it's a trap. By following their directions you're simply confirming that you read and received the spam, which makes your e-mail address that much more valuable to spammers on the mailing-list market. This is a sure way to receive even more spam!
  3. When websites show a button that says, "E-mail this to a friend," don't use it! News sites, humor sites, and greeting card sites, will keep all the e-mail addresses people enter in and have been known to sell the databases for profit. Some are honest and haven't done so... yet.
  4. Create a "throw away" e-mail address on Yahoo or Hotmail which you can use when a website requires an e-mail address to sign up for their product or service. That way, if they end up putting you on their mailing-list or selling your address to spammers, you won't have to give them the e-mail address you use to do business.
  5. Be careful who you give your e-mail address to. Ask the people whom you give your e-mail address to respect your privacy and not to enter your address into any website or send e-mail to you and lots of other people at the same time. Often times, if you let them know that it's important to you that your address be kept private, they'll be more thoughtful about how it's used.
  
  
• March 1, 2002 - Infrastructure Upgrade - ACS has installed a new authentication server. This should solve the sporadic problems some customers have experienced accessing their e-mail. This new Primary Domain Controller has dual processors and RAID-5. This should offer improved performance during authentication and improved fault tolerance. This upgrade will also facilitate our move to Active Directory.
  
  
• August 7, 2001 - Infrastructure Upgrade - ACS is pleased to announce that we have implemented a new peering agreement with Sprint which will offer our clients an additional path into and out of the ACS network. (For our more technically inclined cusomters, you'll now see traceroutes to some destinations leaving our netowrk and entering Sprint's.) This new connection adds even greater redundancy to our network and the additional bandwidth affords us ample capacity for significant expansion. Since bringing up the new link we have been extremely happy with its performance. In today's market conditions, the last thing on most network service providers' agendas is expansion. We're greatful that our loyal customers is continuing to grow, making this upgrade not only possible, but necessary as well!
  
  
• July 31, 2001 - Software Update - Over the last several months, some of our customers have experienced a phenomenon in which they receive the same e-mail repeatedly, even though the party who sent it claims to have only sent it once. The problem seemed to be more common on e-mail with large file attachments. Thanks to help from some very patient customers, we were able to trace this problem to a bug in the software we use for spam filtering. It seems that some mail servers that were sending us mail were under the impression that the file transfer did not complete successfully even though it did, and continued to retransmit the mail until a its internal timeout period had expired. We were pleased to see that a patch was released today that is supposed to fix this problem. This update has already been installed and we are monitoring the logs closely to see if this problem persists. If you continue to experience this problem, please let us know.
  
  
• July 30, 2001 - Partial network outage - Some users experienced a loss of Internet access during the late afternoon. This was the result of an equipment failure. Service was restored after we routed around the problem. The equipment was replaced during the night and all systems are currently operational.
  
  
• July 17, 2001 - Virus Alert! An e-mail virus called "W32.Sircam.Worm@mm" was discovered on July 17. Please remember, if you receive an e-mail with a file attached, please practice good common sense: don't just open it if you're not absolutely sure what it is. Just because the file was sent to you by someone you know doesn't mean it's safe. Most viruses are sent to you by someone you know. If your PC has already been infected please make absolutely sure that it gets properly repaired or you could continue to spread the virus. If you're not sure what to do, call us. We're here to help.
  
  This virus is a little bit harder to identify than others because the subject line is always different. However, there are some consistent characteristics you can use to identify it. Most notably, the first line and the last line in the body of the message are always the same:
  
  If you receive an e-mail with the following characteristics do not open it:
  First line of the message body: "Hi! How are you?" or "Hola como estas ?"
  Last line of the message body: "See you later. Thanks" or "Nos vemos pronto, gracias."
  
  If you do open it, you'll infect your computer and you could spread the virus to other users. Please delete this e-mail immediately. For more information on this virus, call us or visit the Symantec AntiVirus Research Center.
  
  
• April 17, 2001 - Virus Alert! Unfortunately, the "Anna Kournkova Virus" was re-introduced today. Please remember, if you receive an e-mail with a file attached, please practice good common sense: don't just open it if you're not sure what it is. Just because the file was sent to you by someone you know doesn't mean it's safe. Most viruses are sent to you by someone you know. If your PC has already been infected please make absolutely sure that it gets properly repaired or you could continue to spread the virus each time you start your computer. If you're not sure what to do, call us. We're here to help.
  
  If you receive an e-mail with the following characteristics do not open it:
  Subject: "Here you have, ;o)"
  Attachment: "AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs"
  Message Body: "Hi: Check This!"
  
  If you do open it, you'll infect your computer and spread the virus to other users. Please delete this e-mail immediately. For more information on this virus, call us or visit the Symantec AntiVirus Research Center. If Symantec's web site is overloaded, you can load our mirrored copy of the page. More information is also available from The CERT/CC.
  
  
• March 15, 2001 - Virus Alert! Unfortunately, the "Anna Kournkova Virus" was re-introduced today. Please remember, if you receive an e-mail with a file attached, please practice good common sense: don't just open it if you're not sure what it is. Just because the file was sent to you by someone you know doesn't mean it's safe. Most viruses are sent to you by someone you know. If your PC has already been infected please make absolutely sure that it gets properly repaired or you could continue to spread the virus each time you start your computer. If you're not sure what to do, call us. We're here to help.
  
  If you receive an e-mail with the following characteristics do not open it:
  Subject: "Here you have, ;o)"
  Attachment: "AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs"
  Message Body: "Hi: Check This!"
  
  If you do open it, you'll infect your computer and spread the virus to other users. Please delete this e-mail immediately. For more information on this virus, call us or visit the Symantec AntiVirus Research Center. If Symantec's web site is overloaded, you can load our mirrored copy of the page. More information is also available from The CERT/CC.
  
  
• March 13, 2001 - During the past several days, ACS has been making some significant improvements and modifications to its network infrastructure. Some customers have had certain services adversely affected as a result of the changes. We really appreciate your patience and helpfulness while we iron out the wrinkles. And, as always, please let us know if you have any further problems or if you have any questions.
  



• March 6, 2001 - Virus Alert! A new virus was discovered today. This is an extremely destructive virus and, in most cases, will require an infected user to re-install Windows. The official name for this virus is "W32.Naked@mm." It is also known as the "Naked Wife Virus."
  
  If you receive an e-mail with the following characteristics do not open it:
  Subject: "Fw: Naked Wife"
  Attachment: "NakedWife.exe"
  Message Body: "My wife never look like that! ;-)"
  
  If you do open it, you'll infect your computer, spread the virus to other users, and you'll probably have to re-install Windows. Please delete this e-mail immediately. For more information on this virus, call us or visit the Symantec AntiVirus Research Center.
  
  
  
• February 12, 2001 - Virus Alert! A new virus was discovered today. Early indications show that it's spreading quite rapidly. The official name for this virus is "VBS.SST@mm." It is also known as the "Anna Kournkova Virus."
  
  If you receive an e-mail with the following characteristics do not open it:
  Subject: "Here you have, ;o)"
  Attachment: "AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs"
  Message Body: "Hi: Check This!"
  
  If you do open it, you'll infect your computer and spread the virus to other users. Please delete this e-mail immediately. For more information on this virus, call us or visit the Symantec AntiVirus Research Center. If Symantec's web site is overloaded, you can load our mirrored copy of the page. More information is also available from The CERT/CC.
  
  
  
• January 31, 2001 - ACS puts two new mail servers into production. Two high speed servers have recently been added to accommodate growing demand for Corporate E-mail.