Apparently, it takes some socially active research geeks, some corporate embarrassment, and well, that’s all it takes!

A few researchers proved this out this week, when they exposed Global Crossing and Hurricane Electric Internet Services for renting servers to a company called McColo Corp.

He and other analysts circulated a dense report Wednesday that blamed some companies for allowing spam to proliferate. Two big providers of Internet connections named in it — Hurricane Electric Internet Services and Global Crossing Ltd. — acted quickly to cut ties to the core subject of the document, a little-known Silicon Valley company called McColo Corp. that rents out servers to clients.
The researchers didn’t say whether McColo knowingly aided criminals, but they described some of the nefarious activities conducted on some websites the company hosted. Among other things, McColo reportedly enabled its customers to control vast networks of hijacked computers to send spam and take payments for fake anti-virus software.
"We got the report, and it looked pretty damning," said Benny Ng, director of infrastructure at Hurricane Electric, of Fremont, Calif. "They were a client of ours, and we turned them off."
Global Crossing did the same thing, security researchers said, though it didn’t respond to interview requests.
McColo didn’t answer messages seeking comment, and its website was off-line late Thursday. The company is now under FBI scrutiny, people familiar with the case said. An agency spokesman said the FBI wouldn’t confirm or deny an active investigation.

Spam traffic plunges after report blames server hosting company

That wasn’t so hard after all, assuming the bad guys don’t pick up some downloadable audio books from Neal Stephenson outlining how to avoid this type of exposure. 

What’s next for the world’s new heroes?

Curing Cancer and Aids next week and finding a new habitable solar system starting in 2009.