On Thu, Aug 26, 2004 at 10:04:17AM -0600,
administrator(_at_)yellowhead(_dot_)com wrote:
This is not about the Pros and Cons of GUI, or whether the bug is in the
mail program, or the GUI, or the Operating System, and I will not get drawn
into those discussions. This is about the fact that these anomolies do
exist in legitimate mail servers, and we cannot ignore that fact.
Yes, we can. The normal configuration produces a bounce. The recipient of the
bounce takes it to their mail adminstrator and says "fix it". The mail
administrator fixes it (after some length of time, which may be short or long
depending on their knowledge, experience, and the difficulty of fixing whatever
software they have chosen to run).
It's just another program to be fixed. That's what system administrators do.
The magnitude of this problem is not known, and until such time as it can
be quantified, it is dangerous to make assumptions based on what it should be.
The magnitude of this problem is very low. I help admin mail for a local ISP.
That server has blocked on invalid HELO for the better part of a year. I have
been asked to explain the problem to real, remote administrators maybe half a
dozen times. In no case have they been unable to easily fix their system after
having had the problem explained to them.
That rule blocks about 5000 virus/spam messages a day on that server.
--
"Democracies survive only until the voters discover that they can vote
themselves largesse from the public treasury ..." -- Alexander Tyler