[IMail Forum] Confessions of an open relay (thank you Declude! (Scott))

[Marc Catuogno]

I had been running my mail server happily for almost a year.  I had checked "relay for addresses" in my SMTP security tab and all e-mail clients had "server requires SMTP Auth".  I thought I was pretty safe... I was wrong.    Due to the Klez virus I decided that it was time to invest in Declude (Virus and Junkmail) and F-protect... this showed me the error of my ways.  Once I configured my Imail sever correctly (created a working postmaster, abuse and acceptance NULL senders).  This was thanks to the free tools on www.Declude.com\tools. I then set up Declude Virus with the e-mail notifications.  Then the torrent of "Klez notifications" began (I chose NOT to shut off the Klez notifications).   After several e-mails to Mr. R. Scott Perry, we figured out that all these notifications were being generated not by my senders but by people infected with the "Klez" BECAUSE I WAS AN OPEN RELAY!     I went to my SMTP setting changed the option to "No Relay" then I UNCHECKED "Disable SMTP Auth Reporting" and the notifications have stopped and my users mail still goes out.  It made me wonder how long I had helped the KLEZ to spread before I got Declude Virus to stop it.   I now sleep better at night, knowing that I'm not an Open Relay allowing the Klez to spread no longer through my server thanks mostly to Declude.   DON'T let this happen to you!  Please check and make sure you are not an open relay.  Then I would also suggest getting Declude Virus with F-protect. The setup was pretty easy and it helped me find out how vulnerable my server really was.   Marc