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[Asrg] Re: Anti-spam idea

2003-03-18 18:27:13
From: "Lee Murach" <lemur(_at_)codemode(_dot_)com>

A sends a message to B.  B sends it back to A, whereupon A resends the =
message to B.  The result: B receives A's message, and A learns B's spam =
code.

Think for a second what happens if this is widely implemented.

Evil spammer sends spam to B, claiming it's from A.  B sends it to A,
and because A is nice and well behaved, it learns B's spam code and
replies.  B gets the spam anyway.

Of course, you can finesse the protocol by having A not respond to
messages it knows it didn't send, but the book-keeping gets onerous
for large organizations.  And if the challenge/response is implemented
in the MUA, A has to deal with "reflected" spam.

But the spammer, assuming he doesn't already know the codes, will be =
obliglied to receive and process replies from each recipient in order to =
learn them.  This is scarcely practical.

Why not?  Domains cost $10/year.  It's no sweat to set up a domain and
a Linux box for a day just to do the handshaking.  You disappear the
next day.

This is another kind of challenge-response system, but the response is
too easily automated, and the extra traffic is not justifiable.

--
David.
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