Spammers are already sending out worms to their victims. Currently these
worms install zombies which then send out mails using random sender
addresses directly to the target MX. If that stops working, these
zombies will start using the credentials and SMTP server found by
reading the registry, tricking the user or sniffing traffic. Sure, that
is a bit more difficult than what they do now, but what they do now is a
lot more difficult than what they did a few years before, so you can
expect that they will do it if they have to.
Absolutely right, and as the guy who raised this point against blocking
port 25, allow me to say this:
If spammers send out spam from (usually) just one email address per
compromised PC, spam will drop to tens or hundreds of messages a day per
person, instead of hundreds or thousands.
Still, there are enough drone out there to make up for it, but it is a
step in the right direction.
Unlike what was said here, using techniques that will force spammers to
learn and adapt is not always a bad thing, when pressing them to the corner.
Fine, but if the goal is to force them into a smaller and smaller corner, then
the fine-grained permissions list idea that I propose, combined with a good
content filter, together does a LOT more to constrain them (and in a space
that's MUCH harder to escape from) than SPF and the like do.
And in addition, it doesn't significantly harm legitimate users (the way SPF
and
other "authentication/reputation" schemes do), AND as a bonus, it virtually
eliminates E-mail as an effective vector for the transmission of viruses and
worms... thus accomplishing a MAJOR blow against zombie spambots, which create
such an otherwise intractable problem in controlling spam.
Gordon Peterson http://personal.terabites.com/
1977-2002 Twenty-fifth anniversary year of Local Area Networking!
Support free and fair US elections! http://stickers.defend-democracy.org
12/19/98: Partisan Republicans scornfully ignore the voters they "represent".
12/09/00: the date the Republican Party took down democracy in America.
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