Mike Loiterman said:
> I just wrapped my pop connections in an ssl tunnel and I'm wondering if
> I need or if I can do the same to my squirrel mail connections.  Aside
> from SquirrelMail, I do not use IMAP.  I have those ports (143) closed
> on my firewall.  My web server and my IMAP server are on the same
> machine and according to the FAQ:
>
> "If your mail server is the same as your web server, there is no need
> for the encrypted communication. It's useless. Just toss it out the
> window, if you can."
>
> I don't understand what this means.  Isn't the password used to access
> SquirrelMail sent in cleartext?  Why wouldn't I use the ssl tunnel to
> protect the password?

"Tunnel" implies that you are creating a secure channel over an insecure
medium.

I don't think that applies in a single-host scenario.

Or, allow me to pose it back to you as a question:  What, exactly, do you
hope to gain by using SSL?  "[P]rotect the password" from what or whom?

Isn't the password going to enter and exit the tunnel in cleartext?  How
does this reduce the number of points of attack?

> Also -- I tried enabling SMTP Authentication but that didn't work
> either.

SMTP-Auth is a technique for allowing authorized /users/ to send mail via
a particular mail server from arbitrary hosts.  Most other relay abuse
prevention techniques are /host/ oriented.

This also clearly doesn't apply in this case, since you can simply
restrict relaying to local users.

How were thinking about configuring SMTP-Auth?  For SM the "right way"
would be to only allow your webserver to send mail.  This strikes me as a
perverse use of SMTP-Auth.

> I have a feeling that these issues are tied together and they stem from
> the fact that all these services are on the same machine??

In a way I suppose they are.  You are trying to use multi-host, multi-user
security techniques to secure a single-host, single-user (the webserver
"user") scenario.

-Peter




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