<s>
Sporgery	B-Application
is	O
the	O
disruptive	O
act	O
of	O
posting	O
a	O
flood	O
of	O
articles	O
to	O
a	O
Usenet	B-Application
newsgroup	I-Application
,	O
with	O
the	O
article	O
headers	O
falsified	O
so	O
that	O
they	O
appear	O
to	O
have	O
been	O
posted	O
by	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
word	O
is	O
a	O
portmanteau	O
of	O
spam	O
and	O
forgery	B-General_Concept
,	O
coined	O
by	O
German	O
software	O
developer	O
,	O
and	O
critic	O
of	O
Scientology	O
,	O
Tilman	O
Hausherr	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sporgery	B-Application
resembles	O
crapflooding	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
also	O
intended	O
to	O
disrupt	O
a	O
forum	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
sporgery	B-Application
is	O
not	O
merely	O
disruptive	O
but	O
also	O
deceptive	O
or	O
libellous	O
—	O
it	O
involves	O
falsifying	O
objectionable	O
posts	O
so	O
they	O
appear	O
to	O
come	O
from	O
newsgroup	B-Application
regulars	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
word	O
sporgery	B-Application
was	O
coined	O
in	O
the	O
newsgroup	B-Application
alt.religion.scientology	B-Application
,	O
an	O
Internet	O
newsgroup	B-Application
where	O
people	O
discuss	O
the	O
controversial	O
belief	O
system	O
of	O
Scientology	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
the	O
various	O
actions	O
of	O
the	O
"	B-Application
war	I-Application
"	I-Application
between	I-Application
Scientology	I-Application
and	I-Application
the	I-Application
Internet	I-Application
involved	O
various	O
individuals	O
who	O
had	O
posted	O
more	O
than	O
a	O
million	O
forged	O
newsgroup	B-Application
articles	O
to	O
the	O
newsgroup	B-Application
,	O
using	O
the	O
message	O
headers	O
(	O
valid	O
names	O
and	O
e-mail	O
addresses	O
)	O
of	O
articles	O
written	O
by	O
Scientology	O
critics	O
and	O
other	O
legitimate	O
posters	O
,	O
and	O
appending	O
to	O
those	O
headers	O
the	O
bodies	O
of	O
other	O
articles	O
harvested	O
from	O
racist	O
newsgroups	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
result	O
was	O
to	O
flood	O
the	O
newsgroup	B-Application
with	O
over	O
one	O
million	O
forged	O
articles	O
that	O
made	O
the	O
other	O
posters	O
appear	O
to	O
be	O
hateful	O
"	O
racist	O
bigots	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
apparent	O
intent	O
of	O
this	O
attack	O
was	O
to	O
render	O
the	O
newsgroup	B-Application
useless	O
for	O
discussion	O
and	O
criticism	O
of	O
Scientology	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
peak	O
of	O
this	O
attack	O
,	O
the	O
attackers	O
had	O
six	O
computers	O
posting	O
sporgeries	B-Application
into	O
the	O
newsgroup	B-Application
,	O
dumping	O
into	O
USENET	B-Application
an	O
average	O
of	O
170	O
megabytes	O
in	O
44,075	O
articles	O
every	O
month	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
From	O
October	O
1998	O
to	O
September	O
1999	O
,	O
1,462,390,911	O
sporgery	B-Application
bytes	O
were	O
detected	O
:	O
that	O
figure	O
does	O
not	O
include	O
the	O
sporgery	B-Application
which	O
was	O
canceled	O
(	O
deleted	O
from	O
USENET	B-Application
)	O
before	O
it	O
could	O
propagate	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Just	O
before	O
the	O
sporgery	B-Application
attack	O
ended	O
,	O
the	O
sporgery	B-Application
resulted	O
in	O
more	O
than	O
90%	O
of	O
the	O
newsgroup	B-Application
's	O
traffic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
accomplish	O
the	O
sporgery	B-Application
attack	O
,	O
the	O
spammers	O
used	O
several	O
methods	O
to	O
acquire	O
Internet	O
access	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Open	O
NNTP	B-Protocol
servers	O
were	O
used	O
when	O
available	O
,	O
to	O
such	O
an	O
extent	O
that	O
a	O
great	O
many	O
had	O
to	O
be	O
closed	O
by	O
their	O
owners	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
open	O
NNTP	B-Protocol
servers	O
eventually	O
became	O
scarce	O
,	O
open	O
proxies	B-Application
were	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
proxies	B-Application
allowed	O
Scientology	O
partisans	O
to	O
use	O
someone	O
else	O
's	O
computer	O
hardware	O
to	O
sporge	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
default	O
security	O
policies	O
in	O
many	O
proxy	B-Application
server	I-Application
products	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
(	O
late	O
1990s	O
)	O
were	O
lax	O
,	O
many	O
such	O
proxies	B-Application
were	O
available	O
for	O
abuse	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
that	O
time	O
,	O
open	O
proxies	B-Application
have	O
become	O
the	O
most	O
popular	O
resource	O
for	O
other	O
spammers	O
to	O
abuse	O
,	O
eclipsing	O
open	O
relays	O
and	O
other	O
insecure	O
hosts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
third	O
method	O
used	O
to	O
acquire	O
newsgroup	B-Application
posting	O
access	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
method	O
used	O
the	O
most	O
,	O
was	O
to	O
use	O
volunteers	O
to	O
go	O
out	O
and	O
buy	O
Internet	O
dialup	O
access	O
from	O
an	O
Internet	O
service	O
provider	O
using	O
a	O
false	O
name	O
and	O
address	O
,	O
and	O
using	O
cash	O
or	O
a	O
money	O
order	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
were	O
given	O
a	O
large	O
amount	O
of	O
cash	O
and	O
air	O
fare	O
to	O
fly	O
to	O
a	O
city	O
specifically	O
to	O
acquire	O
Internet	O
access	O
for	O
later	O
use	O
in	O
sporging	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
such	O
volunteer	O
,	O
Tory	O
Bezazian	O
,	O
later	O
left	O
Scientology	O
and	O
confessed	O
to	O
performing	O
this	O
task	O
,	O
giving	O
the	O
names	O
of	O
the	O
Scientology	O
staff	O
members	O
who	O
were	O
allegedly	O
in	O
charge	O
of	O
the	O
sporgery	B-Application
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
sporgery	B-Application
attack	O
against	O
alt.religion.scientology	B-Application
ended	O
a	O
few	O
months	O
after	O
the	O
name	O
and	O
address	O
of	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
perpetrators	O
was	O
acquired	O
by	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
victims	O
,	O
at	O
which	O
time	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
Federal	O
Bureau	O
of	O
Investigation	O
got	O
involved	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
the	O
emergence	O
of	O
this	O
technique	O
of	O
disrupting	O
a	O
newsgroup	B-Application
,	O
a	O
few	O
other	O
groups	O
have	O
been	O
targeted	O
this	O
way	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
person	O
or	O
persons	O
using	O
the	O
pseudonym	O
"	O
Hipcrime	O
"	O
have	O
attacked	O
this	O
and	O
other	O
groups	O
with	O
sporgeries	B-Application
,	O
usually	O
nonsense	O
or	O
Dissociated	B-Operating_System
Press	I-Operating_System
text	O
posted	O
under	O
random	O
names	O
of	O
legitimate	O
posters	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sporgery	B-Application
is	O
also	O
common	O
in	O
warez	B-Application
newsgroups	B-Application
.	O
</s>
