Re: AW: Windows Messenger Popup Spam on UDP Por t 10 26

[Shawn McMahon <smcmahon () eiv com>]

On Mon, Jun 23, 2003 at 12:52:06PM +0200, vogt () hansenet com said:
> Most spam is NOT sent out via port 25. It arrives via port 25, but it
> almost always relayed inbetween. Some years back, open relays were the
> main problem. However, we've dug into things a bit and found to our
> surprise that not only are they not the main problem anymore, but in
> fact a tiny minority. The main problem is open socks proxies (port 1080).

That is primarily thanks to the efforts of the anti-spam community, and
is a measure of their success.

Anyone involved in law enforcement will tell you that a large part of it
is relocation of crime, not prevention per se.  The criminals will
continue to commit crimes by and large, but a police presence (and many
other things, see any article on community-oriented policing or "broken
windows theory") makes them go somewhere else to do it.

> don't want to RECEIVE spam, only to send it). We also know that 90% of
> the current Internet population doesn't know the difference between an 
> open proxy and a cup holder.

BTW, that's the real danger of the "open your CDROM tray" exploit; a web
page might close it, spilling your coffee.  :-)


-- 
Shawn McMahon     | Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill,
EIV Consulting    | that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any
UNIX and Linux    | hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure
http://www.eiv.com| the survival and the success of liberty. - JFK

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