In this case, the outbound Smartermail gateway whitelists the IP addresses of numerous exchange servers that relay through it. The virus problem we had a couple weeks ago was one of our client's local users was infected on one of the networks that hosts the exchange server. It pumped the mail out through the exchange server (which is locked down to only communicate with our smtp server) but that didn't matter here. It was an authorized local user, so the path was clear.
The overall problem though is that, since mail programs, as far as I know for the most part, bind themselves to a single IP, then all of your customers on that box are dependent on that IP's reputation. If it sours at all, then everyone else is also affected. Sure, you can change that IP pretty quick, but we work hard to keep the regular relationship with AOL Postmaster, Yahoo Postmaster, etc, which I think is desirable, yes? I don't want to be a fly by night relay operator. How do you compete with people like Google's Postini, who will let you relay through them, thus limiting the risk/reward to a single customer? I'm feeling a little pressure to abandon the whole SmarterMail / Declude / INVURIBL / MessageSniffer / INVALUEMENT model I currently use (soon, with Alligate!) and just go with Postini, etc. I'm a long, long way from seriously considering it, because I can react to problems much much faster and more surgically than a big service, but when I face problems like this outbound list thing (I ended up on Symantec's Brightmail list for about 8 hours and I can't get anyone to tell me why) I simply don't know what to do to protect my customers. Which is why I thought I'd ask about what other people do J Very Respectfully, Michael Cummins http://www.cummins.us | mich...@cummins.us From: supp...@declude.com [mailto:supp...@declude.com] On Behalf Of Chuck Schick Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 3:11 PM To: declude.junkmail@declude.com Subject: RE: [Declude.JunkMail] Outbound Mail Do you require SMTP authentication? We enforce SMTP authentication and port 587 for SMTP outbound. So far, I have not seen a virus or worm that uses SMTP authentication. Chuck From: supp...@declude.com [mailto:supp...@declude.com] On Behalf Of Michael Cummins Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 11:54 AM To: declude.junkmail@declude.com Subject: [Declude.JunkMail] Outbound Mail This is off topic for the list, but I thought this group might be able to give me some direction. How do you handle outbound mail? I really try to keep a lid on spam and my clients aren't shady, but if something happens to 1 client, then all the clients are affected when something goes wrong. .I had one a few weeks back that got infected by a virus; we clamped down on it pretty quickly, but it's amazing how fast those things get the mail out. I'm still seeing fresh complaints, weeks later. .I can't put hijack on my customers, because almost all of them have their own private mailing lists, etc. Is outbound mail an issue for you? How do you address it? Thanks for your patience and kind direction! -- Michael Cummins --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to imail...@declude.com, and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to imail...@declude.com, and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to imail...@declude.com, and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com.
