Dealing with spam

L

LTR12101B

1
www.spampal.org - A great filtering tool, DNSBL filtering will take out 90% or more with NO loss of wanted mail (why doesn't my ISP do it?, and why don't certain US cable companies set a better example than China/Korea in holding users responsible for fixing/removing exploitable internet sharing software?)

However, some great fun to be had reading the fights between spamkooks and antispammers on news.admin.net-abuse.email
One good fight was some host pleading for a SPEWS blocklist removal, after finally removing a spammer (after leaving them long enough for the fees to pay much of the cost of equipment added) - while such action is to be applauded if PROMPT, they only acted because the escalation of the blocked range was causing them more pain than the continued revenue was worth. They got short shrift, and a few blocklists might upgrade their listing to "spam support" if they can't be trusted to honour their own TOS!
Other interesting categories from some blocklists are "shoot on sight", a category reserved for those who've done something to seriously offend the maintaner.



http://www.spamreaper.org/etaoin/CatsAndCoffee/SnottyScottyLawsuite.html

Some twit wants to sue Spamcop!

They bitch about the anonymized complaints, but I'd certainly never intentionally give a valid email address to a suspected spammer.

The ultimate thing is, that Spamcop, or any other block list, doesn't have any more authority than people give it.
Spamcop issues compliants on your behalf, many are ignored, some are nulled by spamcop because the contact is useless, or is known not to accept munged reports.
Spamcop also has a block list based on those reports - it is KNOWN to be one of the more aggressive block lists, and is not recommended if you cannot tolerate a little "collateral damage" ... if a lost email (commerial/list type, but perhaps not strictly spam) is more important than a few spams getting through, then use a less extreme blocking list ... If I had to choose ONE, it would be CBL - automated, fast reacting, and very much on the ball.
 
VIPER_1069

VIPER_1069

1
@ LTR goood info bud but ... whys it in JANIES CORNER !? :p :)

if ya wanna move it bud then ya can delete this comment also too :)
 
L

LTR12101B

1
I was expecting it to be more a rant on the evils of spam, but I guess it would be more appropriate in "Off topic" - I'll kick it over there.

The battle lines on spam are being drawn, and if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem... do YOUR spam emails outnumber your wanted ones?

And I'll name the US ISP that I had in mind - COMCAST - They are getting a miserable reputation among DNSBL maintainers, for not delivering any worthwhile result on abuse reports.
According to some DNSBL rules, multiple spam sources plus failure to deal with them = tag entire IP range as "spam friendly".

The whole 24.0.0.0/8 address range looks pretty rotten in spam reports.

Just to make clear, the problem is not spammers ON the ISP, but users with insecure proxies (eg. Wingate, AnalogX proxy etc.) - if YOU are a USA cable/DSL user, and you use proxy software to deliver access to other machines in your home network, PLEASE ensure that it limits access only to machines on your local network - either that, or use a hardware router instead, which gives YOU some additional security as well.

My ISP auto-probes for open proxies, and users would be expected to remove/fix them or lose service until they do - it's one of the few things they do right... they also detect certain virus/worm activity, and lock infected machines into a "walled garden" where the fixes must be downloaded to release that lock.
 
banzibaby

banzibaby

1
Well my ISP (Telewest) does nothing about spam, it only been recently they even bothered ro virus scan all their mail (prolly nortons)So i have always used Mailwasher to deal with spam, no need to intergrate it into OE or anything & i ne4ver had many false alerts from it :)

BaNzI :D
 
ChickenMan

ChickenMan

1
I just use Mozilla and turn on the Junk Mail option, it takes out 99% of all my junk mail and I get about 80 a day :(
 
L

LTR12101B

1
The-poacher said:
Yep Im a mailwasher fan but my favourite spam mail are ones spamming U about an anti spam proggy <> go figure!!!!
Click to expand...
Oh yes, just like "Messenger Spam" offering to sell you an anti messenger spam tool (don't do it, there's plenty of freeware) - eg.
http://grc.com/stm/shootthemessenger.htm
http://www.stopmessengerspam.com/


But to reprise the basic anti-spam rules:
1. Do not expose an email address that you value (this includes posting in any guest-readable forum)
2. Do not use easily guessable emails ... the SCUM will try adding numbers to any name they already have.
3. If you need to expose an email address, make it human-readable only, or use a disposable address
4. Never unsubscribe if you didn't subscribe in the first place - spammers unsubscribes are a CON, usually just confirming your address is good.
5. Do not allow your email client to remote-load images - if the client doesn't support this, try denying HTTP access to it if you have a rules-based firewall.
6. Never, ever buy from spam, you reward them for it, they'll keep spamming - as they say, spread the word, the best way to stop spam, is to make sure it doesn't pay

If you have CGI access in your website, get hold of WPOISON - a script which gives roving address collection bots a pile of invalid addresses.

And of course, block, report, lobby - stopping spam is one thing, but stopping the spammers is the real target - to that end, if you have a hole that they could use, plug it! - open relays / proxies USED to be a SERVICE to the internet community, now the action of these SCUM have made open servers a MENACE to the internet community.
 
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