Re: [LUG] spam (was: Glad I use Linux)

[Neil Williams <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 22/10/06 22:53:09, Colin James wrote:
> I am glad I use Linux as for some reason today I have been targeted
> with lots of viruses through my email. I have no idea why these have
> started coming through as I am very careful where I put my email  
> address. This is one the messages I received with a virus attached.

All may not be as it seems.

Even if you were using Windows, this may not have resulted from an  
attack *on you* - it is more likely that someone is trying to *use* you  
as a false originator for *their* attacks on others. The net result is  
that a Windows user in the same situation may well have been perfectly  
safe from this email. In practice, someone sending falsified email from  
an address is just as likely to send malware spam TO that address as  
well.

You cannot stop someone sending email that pretends to come from you -  
a bug in SMTP that is becoming increasingly problematic.

Someone is sending out malware emails and blaming you. It happens to  
everyone at one time or another - most of the spam I still receive is  
failure notices from badly configured relays that blame me for email  
that someone is sending using a falsified From: address - mine!

The other problem is that this behaviour often gets YOUR email address  
listed in spamcop databases so that your genuine email gets rejected!

*This* is the principle reason why I sign all my email  
cryptographically with GnuPG. If you get ANY email from me that is not  
signed, it has come from someone falsifying the From: address. It  
doesn't help me, it is intended to help others filter email received  
from me.

It's coming to the point where I'm considering using a special GnuPG  
key without a passphrase just to sign automated emails (like the  
password reminders) too.

At present, email sent from webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxx is not signed  
(although it can be encrypted) and - being a predictable address - is  
commonly abused as well as receiving vast amounts of spam.

--

Neil Williams
=============
http://www.data-freedom.org/
http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/
http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/

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