Re: Weird email messages with "re:movie" and "re:application" in the subject line..

["Steven M. Bellovin" <smb () research att com>]

In message <2147483647.1056635153@[192.168.1.102]>, John Payne writes:
> --On Wednesday, June 25, 2003 23:37 -0400 "Steven M. Bellovin" 
> <smb () research att com> wrote:
>
> > And I've gotten bounces from mail allegedly from me.  It's not L3's
> > fault; this particular worm forges From: lines on its email.
>
> fault is debatable.  Because forgeries are now so common, particularly in 
> worms, why would you send these notifications to anyone other than the 
> recipient?  Let the human decide if the right thing to do is notify the 
> sender.
Personally, I blame the anti-virus companies who market the software.  
They know which viruses forge From: lines; why should their "alert the 
poor infected fool" software send notes to folks whose addresses are 
being spoofed?


                --Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb (me)
                http://www.wilyhacker.com (2nd edition of "Firewalls" book)