How to block Mac OS iCal SPAM

[heretiq]

I received a Black Friday notification hawking sun glasses -- see attached screenshot. It apparently was delivered via an iCal invitation.

I searched for the sender ("astvn", email address 1zbf@iv83.top) in Spotlight (which returns the invitation under events & reminder) and Mail (which returns no results though the sender appears in the search results people list).

Since I cannot find the actual invitation in mail or any other app there appears to be no way to block the sender or to flag this as SPAM.

This appears to be a SPAM backdoor. Any suggestions on how to close it?

Thanks!
[doublepost=1480091978][/doublepost]I found this answer in this very helpful Apple Support Forum thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7611786

Log in to iCloud on the web, open your calendar, and go to ⚙ > Preferences. Under Advanced, you’ll find an option to receive calendar invitations by email instead of straight into your calendar.

I also used the SPAM calendar suggestion to isolate and delete the SPAM event. This is such a pain the ass. I wasted almost an hour on this nuisance.

 

[MarkG21]

I received the exact same spam invitation too. Thank you for the solution (or work around)!!

 

[Woodcrest64]

I got the same thing today. I'm in BC, Canada.

 

[RootBeerMan]

Yeah, I got it, too. Didn't insert in my calendar though. I just refused ti accept it and deleted it. Never have had anything like it before. Not too happy about it.

 

[Lappen71]

You should never refuse because then they know its an active mail.
Here´s the solution.

Just log in to iCloud.com open your calendar. Then under the calendars settings (cog icon lower left of the screen), select the Preferences entry and then the Advanced tab. You'll likely notice that your Invitations setting is defaulted to in-app notifications. Change that to email and it'll prevent future invites automatically appear solely in your calendar (you'll get it as an email that is easier to delete without confirming a live account).

https://9to5mac.com/2016/11/09/icloud-photo-sharing-and-calendar-spam/

 

[MacMan988]

I also received exactly the same spam yesterday.

 

[ManuCH]

I also received the same spam. Then I made a random comment to @AppleSupport on Twitter. They contacted me privately, opened a case and insisted that a senior advisor wants to talk to me.

It seems like this escalated internally at Apple, as thousands of customers got the same spam. They'll call me later today to discuss the matter, even though I told them it's not that important. Funny. I'll report back and tell you what they said.

 

[ManuCH]

So I got off the phone with Apple Support and...

Just log in to iCloud.com open your calendar. Then under the calendars settings (cog icon lower left of the screen), select the Preferences entry and then the Advanced tab. You'll likely notice that your Invitations setting is defaulted to in-app notifications. Change that to email and it'll prevent future invites automatically appear solely in your calendar (you'll get it as an email that is easier to delete without confirming a live account).

... this is actually the official Apple-sanctioned way of fixing the problem.

 

[Partron22]

This is an unpleasant development.
NY Times weighs in: Fighting iOS Calendar Spam

 

[steve62388]

This is an unpleasant development.
NY Times weighs in: Fighting iOS Calendar Spam

Why? It's exactly what we have been talking about, no change.
[doublepost=1480328508][/doublepost]

So I got off the phone with Apple Support and...



... this is actually the official Apple-sanctioned way of fixing the problem.

Unless they can figure out a clever way to defeat this behind the scenes I suspect Apple will introduce a Spam button alongside Accept and Decline. The button won't send back a notification to the sender. By crowd sourcing what data is Spam they could hopefully have an automatic process to kill it before it reaches your device.

 

[celadon]

Thank you! I was wondering what was going on! Thanks for the solution!