Re: Why do so few mail providers support Port 587?

[Chris Horry <zerbey () wibble co uk>]

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Nils Ketelsen wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 28, 2005 at 05:13:35PM -0500, Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu wrote:
>
>
> > On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 16:54:23 EST, Nils Ketelsen said:
> >
> > > An interesting theory. What is the substantial difference? For
> > > me the security implications of "allowing the user to bypass our
> > > mailsystem on port 25" and ""allowing the user to bypass our mailsystem on
> > > port 587" are not as obvious as they maybe are to you.
> >
> > The big difference is that if they connect on outbound 25, they're basically
> > unauthenticated at the other end.  Port 587 "should be" authenticated, which
> > means that the machine making the connection out is presumably a legitimate
> > user of the destination mail server.
>
>
> Okay, the main difference seems to be:
>
> 1. People here trust, that mailservers on port 587 will have
> better configurations than mailservers on port 25 have today. I
> do not share this positive attitude.

I truly hope this isn't the case, I don't trust any mail server that I
didn't personally configure.

> 2. Port 587 Mailservers only make sense, when other Providers block
> port 25. My point is: If my ISP blocks any outgoing port, he is no longer
> an ISP I will buy service from. Therefore I do not need a 587-Mailserver,
> as I do not use any ISP with Port 25-Blocking for connecting my sites or
> users.

Yes, right up until a) ISPs wise up and start blocking port 587, and
then 465 for good measure.  or b) malware authors wise up.  B will
happen sooner.

Chris

- --
Chris Horry KG4TSM   "You're original, with your own path
zerbey () wibble co uk   You're original, got your own way"
PGP: DSA/2B4C654E        -- Leftfield
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