Thanks!

Adam


-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of R. Scott Perry
Sent: Saturday, December 21, 2002 10:06 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [IMail Forum] Log File entries appear to be name dictionary
scan of user accounts? 



>I have enclosed sample log file entries for one specific IP that it 
>appears someone was using with a name dictionary to try to determine 
>valid user accounts on domains that we host.

This is very common these days, and is simply called a "dictionary
attack."

>I am interpreting this right as what is going on?

Yes.

>Is there any way to stop this?  Such as perhaps if someone generated 
>more
>than X SMTP ERR
>entries in a N minute period they will get blocked for while?

There isn't any easy way to stop it.

One option is to use a "nobody" alias, so all the addresses will appear 
valid.  The advantage to this is that they won't know which addresses
are 
good and which are bad.  The disadvantage is that if the spammer is dumb

(and I haven't heard of too many smart spammers), they will think all
the 
addresses are good, and you may end up with lots of spam being sent to 
non-existent accounts in the future.

Someone on this list was working on a script to automatically detect
this 
and add the IPs to the SMTP Control Access file, but I'm not sure what
the 
status of that is.  Also, someone on the list has suggested using
BlackIce 
Server (but I think it requires special settings to detect dictionary 
attacks).  A search of the archive for "dictionary attack" should
provide 
some more details.

                                                    -Scott
---
Declude JunkMail: The advanced anti-spam solution for IMail mailservers.
Declude Virus: Catches both viruses and vulnerabilities in E-mail, with
no 
annual licensing fees.

---
[This E-mail was scanned for viruses by Declude Virus
(http://www.declude.com)]


To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html
List Archive:
http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/
Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/




To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html
List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/
Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/

Reply via email to