This week's IT security news roundup features stories on the shutdown of the world's third-largest spam botnet; a possible hack of the Dropbox cloud-storage service; a Wall St. IT recruiting site that was attacked; and more. World’s Third Largest Spam Botnet Shut Down: Security-research group FireEye and spam-tracking service SpamHaus worked with ISPs to shut down the Grum spam botnet. The Grum botnet was reportedly responsible for as much as 18 percent of the world’s spam, and it was thought to be the third-largest spam botnet in operation. The takedown effort began with the removal of two command-and-control servers in the Netherlands by local police, who were contacted by FireEye researchers. Two additional C&C servers were also in operation, one in Panama and one in Russia. After the servers in the Netherlands were taken down, the ISP in Panama that owned the suspect server responded to pressure from researchers and removed it. The two Dutch servers were replaced with six new servers located in the Ukraine. When the researchers at FireEye learned of this development, they passed the information along to others in the security community, including Spamhaus and CERT-GIB, the Russian computer emergency response team. Carel Van Straten and Thomas Morrison from Spamhaus and Alex Kuzmin from CERT-GIB reached out to contacts in Russia and the Ukraine, and within a few hours the servers were taken offline as well. As a result, the number of Grum-infected IP addresses sending spam dropped from roughly 120,000 to 21,000. Dropbox Probes Possible Hack: Dropbox hired investigators to find out why some of its European users are receiving spam sent to email addresses associated with their accounts. A note on the cloud-storage service’s user forum says the investigators have not yet been able to confirm any unauthorized activity. Many users reported receiving the spam via email addresses used only for Dropbox. The spam, written in German, English and Dutch, advertises gambling websites. Wall Street IT Recruiting Service Attacked: Hackers published files containing data on tens of thousands of IT professionals taken from ITWallStreet.com, a site that focuses on IT professionals who are seeking Wall Street jobs or who work with Wall Street firms. The data was apparently stolen by a hacker who is a member of a group called TeamGhostShell. An inspection of the published data by Computerworld showed first and last names, mailing addresses, email addresses, usernames, hashed passwords and phone numbers of thousands of people. Many of the thousands of hashed passwords seem to have already been decrypted into their clear text form. Mother Hacks School System 110 Times to Change Kids’ Grades: Catherine Venusto, a former secretary at Pennsylvania’s Northwestern Lehigh School District, hacked into the school system’s computers and changed her daughter’s grade from an F to an M and her son’s grade from a 98 to a 99. She was charged with three counts each of unlawful use of a computer and computer trespass and released on $30,000 unsecured bail. State police say she admitted changing the grades, and while she agrees her actions were unethical, they apparently aren’t illegal. Related content opinion Why Bitcoins are Just as Viable as Any Other Currency The true value of any currency is a reflection of how much people believe it's worth, according to CIO blogger Constantine von Hoffman. But it's wise to remember just how fast beliefs can change. By Constantine von Hoffman Apr 15, 2013 4 mins Government Technology Industry opinion No Surprise: Docs Show Obama Administration Lying About Drones President Obama has repeatedly said drones would only be used against members of al Qaida and allied groups. However, leaked intelligence documents show the administration has been using them to settle political and tribal feuds for at least four yea By Constantine von Hoffman Apr 10, 2013 3 mins Regulation Government opinion How Big Data Can Quickly Become Big Garbage The bigger the data the bigger the chance of mistakes or inaccuracies. In that vein, a large database used by retailers to screen people accused of stealing from employers is identifying innocent people and could result in major lawsuits, according t By Constantine von Hoffman Apr 04, 2013 2 mins Big Data opinion Why Crazy Trumps Logic on the Internet The earth is flat. Vaccines cause autism. 9/11 was a government conspiracy. These are just a few of the many ideas that continue to find adherents online despite overwhelming proof that they're not based on fact. CIO.com blogger Constantine von By Constantine von Hoffman Apr 02, 2013 3 mins Government Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe