In May, Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Riley filed a civil suit against Kuvayev, six of his associates and two companies, 2K Services Ltd. and Ecash Pay Ltd., both of which were unincorporated and operating out of P.O. Boxes.
Riley accused the gang of flooding computers with millions of unsolicited email for everything from imitation watches to hardcore porn, without including the required opt-out options or warnings regarding adult content.
Reilly also sought and obtained an emergency court order against the group's websites, including the now-defunct website BadCow.com, forcing a number of hosting companies to take the sites offline. This week’s ruling makes the injunction permanent.
“This judgment should serve as a deterrent to those who use the Internet for illicit purposes,'' Reilly said.
Reilly admits that it is unlikely that authorities will be able to collect any money from Kuvayev. He pointed to a number of message board threads that indicate Kuvayev has fled the country and returned to Russia, where he now allegedly operates a spam network called Mailen.
On the other hand, the ruling and others like it have helped to stem the flow of spam originating from the U.S., according to British security firm Sophos Labs. Between April and September, Sophos ran a network of computers set up as spam traps and found the U.S. was responsible for 26.5 percent of the world’s spam, down from about 41.5 percent a year ago.
"Efforts such as ISPs sharing knowledge on how to crack down on spammers, and authorities enforcing Can-Spam legislation, have helped North America thwart the efforts of spammers on their doorsteps,” said Sophos Senior Technology Consultant Graham Cluley. “Some of the most prolific spammers have been forced to either quit the business or relocate overseas as a result."
Worldwide, however, the number of spam emails continues to grow, especially as U.S. spammers move offshore and use zombie computers — PCs that have been hijacked by malware — to send messages.