The US Department of Justice on Tuesday fined California Voice over Internet Protocol service provider XCast US$10 million for making illegal robocalls to individuals.

The US District Court for the Central District of California, which issued the fine, also required the firm to screen the companies it works with “to identify potential illegal telemarketing.”

In a Federal Trade Commission complaint issued against XCast, the company was accused of making billions of illegal robocalls to American consumers, claiming to be from government agencies, to deliver prerecorded marketing messages. Through these calls, the company made misleading statements to coerce consumers into buying products – and continuing to engage in illegal activity after being alerted by its customers, the complaint alleges.

“XCast was warned several times that illegal robocalls were using its services and did nothing,” said director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection Samuel Levine,. “Companies that turn a blind eye to illegal robocalling should expect to hear from the FTC,” he said.

Researchers Uncover New Email Spoofing Campaign

Security researchers at SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab uncovered a new email spoofing campaign used by threat actors to target victims across the world with phishing emails.

The technique uses a vulnerability in SMTP servers, which are used to send and receive emails. The vulnerability stems from how the STMP server processes its inbound and outbound emails. A compromised STMP server could allow hackers to send phishing emails to victims using fake email addresses that can bypass security monitoring.

SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab researchers said the vulnerability affects Microsoft, GMX, Cisco, Postfix and Send mail servers. Once alerted, Microsoft and GMX patched the flaw, while Cisco said that the flaw is not a “vulnerability but a feature, and that they will not change the default configuration.”