Re: RBL and ORBS

[Scott Gifford]

"Andrew Wafula" [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 Hello,
 
 I was at the ORBS site the other day and I saw that as from 1st Feb 2001
 relays.orbs.org would be deleted.
 
 This may seem dumb but here goes :).
 Now, does it mean that we can no longer use it to check for open
 relays 


  No, they just split it up, to make it easier to pick and choose the
parts of ORBS that you want to use.

  From the same part of the page that says that relays.orbs.org is
going away (http://www.orbs.org/usingindex.html):

* relays.orbs.org is going away and will be deleted by 1 February 2001.
* Manual entries and netblock entries have already been removed
  from relays.orbs.org.
* Use inputs.orbs.org for single stage relay filtering
* Use outputs.orbs.org for immediate filtering of multihop relays.
* Use delayed-outputs.orbs.org for multihop relay filtering using
  a 3-5 day grace period.

and also the experimental zones:

* manual.orbs.org - open relays tested manually and believed to be
  blocking the tester. Return code is 127.0.0.5. Updated: hourly
* spamsources.orbs.org - direct spam sources. Returns
  127.0.0.6. Updated: hourly
* untestable-netblocks.orbs.org - netblocks known to contain open
  relays and which have been proven to be blocking the ORBS tester
  or who have demanded that ORBS not test. Returns
  127.0.0.7. Updated: hourly
* spamsource-netblocks.orbs.org - spam source and support
  netblocks. - Returns 127.0.0.8. Updated: hourly

What this means is that you can configure your rblsmtpd to use:

-routputs.orbs.org

to get only use the actual, verified SPAM relays that ORBS does a good
job of finding, and avoid all of their political bullshit.  

And you can use

-rinputs.orbs.org

on your customers to make sure you don't allow them to send spam
through you as a third-party relay.

On the whole, it should be a good thing, even if you hate ORBS.  Makes
it easier to pick and choose which parts of ORBS you agree with, and
just filter based on them.  And it makes it harder for people to drop
mail that is blocked by the somewhat more biased parts of ORBS (like
spamsource and untestable-netblocks) without realizing that's what
they're doing.

 and if so what replacement do we have?

Although ORBS isn't going anywhere, the RBL (www.mail-abuse.org) does
similar things.

--ScottG.

Re: RBL and ORBS

[Piotr Kasztelowicz]

On 9 Feb 2001, Scott Gifford wrote:

   No, they just split it up, to make it easier to pick and choose the
 parts of ORBS that you want to use.

Also I must add to my blacklist the new ORBS addresses to avoid
to scan smtp of my servers

Thanks for info

Piotr
---
Piotr Kasztelowicz [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[http://www.am.torun.pl/~pekasz]

Re: RBL and ORBS

[Peter van Dijk]

On Fri, Feb 09, 2001 at 08:47:06AM +0100, Piotr Kasztelowicz wrote:
 Hello
 
  This may seem dumb but here goes :).
  Now, does it mean that we can no longer use it to check for open relays and
  if so what replacement do we have?
 
 I had said about the mor free time!!!
 
 But is this really true, that ORBS has been closed permanently?

Not at all. In fact, they are enhancing their service and making it
more clear to users by getting rid of relays.orbs.org and serving a
couple of other zones.

Greetz, Peter.

Re: RBL and ORBS

[Peter van Dijk]

On Fri, Feb 09, 2001 at 12:55:07PM +0100, Piotr Kasztelowicz wrote:
 On 9 Feb 2001, Scott Gifford wrote:
 
No, they just split it up, to make it easier to pick and choose the
  parts of ORBS that you want to use.
 
 Also I must add to my blacklist the new ORBS addresses to avoid
 to scan smtp of my servers

How do you know what the addresses of the ORBS testers are?

Greetz, Peter.

RBL and ORBS

[Andrew Wafula]

Hello,

I was at the ORBS site the other day and I saw that as from 1st Feb 2001
relays.orbs.org would be deleted.

This may seem dumb but here goes :).
Now, does it mean that we can no longer use it to check for open relays and
if so what replacement do we have?

Andrew