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Joined: Dec 29, 2003
Posts: 464
Location: Sweden
Member
Posted:
Nov 26, 2005 - 06:03 AM
Post subject: Serious email spam: someone doesn't like me :>
For two consecutive days I have had my mailbox bombed with email (around 300), same email and same sender. Email contained a virus.
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Of course, the dip shit was a real brain because he assumed that if I didn't open the attachment on the first mail I might open one of the other 300 mails and read them.
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Anyhow, I have to download the freaking mails from my server before I can delete them. How do you people cope with this problem (assuming you have one)?
Works pretty well for me, does depend on your host but I think it's a bundled application with Cpanel these days
_________________ Retired from official MAXdev duties
mli MD user level 5
Joined: Dec 29, 2003
Posts: 464
Location: Sweden
bannato
Posted:
Nov 26, 2005 - 11:15 AM
I'll talk to my webhost about it. I never found unsolicited mail a real problem since most of them got caught by my filter (outlook spam filter and custom rules)... but when I receive 300 mails that's just plain obnoxious (I guess I pissed someone off real bad). I just wish it was possible to find out who sent it (doesn't an email carry some kind of "fingerprint").
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Cheers!
whazoo MDBooster
Joined: Feb 05, 2006
Posts: 34
Location: Chicago
bannato
Posted:
Feb 10, 2006 - 02:50 PM
mli wrote:
I just wish it was possible to find out who sent it (doesn't an email carry some kind of "fingerprint").
--
Cheers!
Joined: June 22, 2004
Posts: 792
Location: Miami Beach, Florida, USA
Posted:
Feb 12, 2006 - 07:29 AM
It's easier to prevent spam than to stop it and it's a multi-step process. It begins with domain name registrations. Many registrars now have an option to hide some addresses so that you can prevent them from being harvested by spammers. Some sites, such as Alexa, will post the e-mail address on record on their site, which does a great disservice.
Be sure to use a contact form on your site(s) rather than posting your address and never post anyone's e-mail address on the Web nor allow yours to be posted. The MDControl Contact form I had developed has special features to thwart spammers (I was getting spammed through my old contact form).
When friends e-mail you with jokes or anything else, and include their friends in the CC field, advise them to use the Bcc field instead. The recipients won't see the list of addresses. You never know who the friends of your friends are and they may have no compunction about spamming you.
Use a throwaway address at one of the free services for forum and site registrations, and have more than one. I have 3 such addresses, one exclusively for ebay and 2 for site registrations. One of the latter is for trusted sites and the other for sites that have not earned my trust yet. It might be because I'm not sure how safe addresses are from being harvested from their sites. In the past, I've had addresses harvested from ebay and other sites. I had to discontinue the throwaway address I was using and replace it with another, it was then that I switched to 3 addresses. Because I am cautious with my addresses, I have received very little spam since then. Act as if you were paranoid in guarding your addresses aas tehy (spammers) really are out to get you.
My e-mail address used to register on various CMS and PHP forum sites has been safe thus far.
Ten years ago I had my favorite address harvested from domain name registrations and my postings on Usenet (newsgroups). I was unaware whenI began using it of all the ways it could be harvested for use by spammers. I gave it up years ago as it is a lost cause. I can never return to using it as it would inundate me with spam. I'm an easy going guy and don't hate anyone except for spammers. I'd give like to stick them all on some desolate island with no electronics and no contact with the outside world.
Use an e-mail program that allows for using multiple e-mail addresses. A good one is PocoMail, which is also secure against viruses.
Filters help a lot also. I have entire country domains blocked becasue I never got anything but spam from them. In my last server upgrade, I was able to finally switch to Qmail instead of Sendmail and now have a more secure mail transport program.
For the spam that does get through all the above steps, some of the blocking techniques mentioned here (and others) can be effective. I rarely get spam anymore which is good as I felt like taking a baseball bat to some of them.
For the occasional local spammer, I would exact a measure of revenge though if they were obliging enough to provide me with a fax number. I had a white on black message prepared condemning them for being a spammer and I would wait until early Sunday morning (when no one was likely to be in at the office) and fax it over and over to them. The idea was to use up their toner or ink and paper and make them pay for their transgressions. E-mail spam now accounts for over 90% of e-mail and costs the U.S. alone over 9 billion dollars yearly and rising.
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Posted:
Nov 26, 2005 - 06:03 AM
