Email subscriber fights back

Ironically, the Standards Institute of Israel - the government’s version of the American Good Housekeeping Institute of Approval - entrusted with testing the quality and reliability of products used by the public has been flooding email subscribers with spam. One such recipient got so irritated he hacked into the Institute’s computer system and claims he wiped out the mailing list.
By Eran Tal

Ynet recently discussed the masses of junk mail sent out by the Standards Institute of Israel, the authority entrusted with testing product quality on behalf of the society, but it seems the Institute ignored both our article and the talkbacks from angry readers reporting that the email spam continued.

One fed up recipient sent us an email alert earlier this week to say he has decided to take things into his own hands. He broke into the Institute’s server where the mailing list is kept and claims he deleted the whole thing.

“After I received the same spam from them for the third time, I succeeded in breaking into their site’s management system, which handles the distribution of email to subscribers,” the frustrated surfer who identifies himself as the ‘anti-spammer’ says.

“As a protest against the incessant junk mail, I simply erased all the data contained in their system.”

He added that he erased the user names of the system’s managers and changed the password necessary to enter it. “This is what will happen to every spammer,” he warned.

Quality assurance courses

The Standards Institute said in response that all spam regarding courses offered by the training center is outsourced. Thus, even if the database is hacked into, it isn’t a part of the Institute.

Regarding the numerous complaints from email subscribers who don’t like the barrage of spam, officials said they have not changed their policy since the previous article was published.

“The company in charge of email distribution has agreed to enable subscribers no longer interested in receiving updates to remove themselves from the list. The removal takes place within 72 hours. The email is not spam,” the institute insists, “it is information regarding upcoming courses on quality assurance.”

Mivzakim.com (news alerts in Hebrew), the company employed by the Institute to distribute its emails told Ynet: “The system that was allegedly hacked into is new. It is supposed to enable easy removal from the Institute’s mailing list. Unlike other companies, the subscriber is completely deleted from the mailing list. The so-called ‘hacker’ used the password Admin and all he succeeded in doing was messing up the catalogue system a bit. The data base is intact and anyone who wants off the mailing list just has to ask.”