----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre John Cruz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2003 10:04 AM Subject: Re: [plug] anti-spam
> if this system uses RCPT TO to gauge whether the sender's address is real > or not, does it have a dummy email account that it uses to send test email > and does it handle email bounces transparently? there are some servers that > accept any address in RCPT TO that belongs to their domain, but then upon > actual delivery, they find out that the account doesn't really exist and > then bounce 'em back. actually smart spammers will use one of their recipient victim address as the sender address to bypass this anti-spam technique :-> smart spammers will find ways and will do anything in order for them to send spam emails... > in my honest opinion, I think SMTP is such a kludge that it needs to be > replaced. SMTP authentication doesn't really solve spam, it just prevents > spammers from using your SMTP server as a jump-off point. Checking for PTR > or reverse DNS records doesn't solve everything, because legal mail servers > may not have PTR records and bogus mail servers may have PTR records, for > all we know. i'm sure everybody agrees that SMTP was "naively" designed and > badly needs replacement... i think you dont need to replace smtp due to its naive approach but to enhance it :-> you can still use smtp and almost eliminate spam by making a policy that reject anything except accept only those who are in my contact list... or by enhancing the smtp protocol by adding a security authentication before delivering to your mailbox by having an authentication key... the sender must know your authentication key (eg. one way hashing) in order the recipient's mail server accepted it and deliver to your mailbox... but of course you know the pros and cons of this approach :-> anti-spam techniques are there not to totally eliminate spammers but to minimize only :-> fooler. _ Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fully Searchable Archives With Friendly Web Interface at http://marc.free.net.ph To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
