spf-discuss
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RE: Response to DDoS using SPF

2005-03-23 16:56:17

> Of course, nobody would be so dastardly as to organize something like this,
> but it would be nice if we could make it completely implausible.  If it
> takes more than five minutes to explain to a CNN reporter the absurdity of
> blaming SPF, they will ignore the explanation and go with the sensational
> story.

Just to put this in perspective, nothing is really keeping a virus
writer from putting the strings "CNN" or "Mother Teresa" in their virus
or what it does.

If the virus were named "MX-doom" instead of "SPF-doom" it wouldn't have the same impact on public opinion. Nobody would believe it had anything to do with MX. SPF has a particular vulnerability here. It may not be technically correct. It may not be fair. But it is real, and we need to recognize that it is real. If we cannot make the attack completely implausible, even to a reporter looking for a story, then we need to at least be ready with a quick fix, one that is so easy to install that lazy admins all over the world will do that instead of abandoning SPF.

-- Dave


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* David MacQuigg, PhD          * email: dmquigg-spf(_at_)yahoo(_dot_)com     *  
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