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Read the original blog for reference. What do you do to stop spam? What are your favorite tools? What are your worst and/or funniest spam (or Spam) stories?
You know, I cannot even understand how 1 in 1000 people could click the links in these spam emails? Why would someone give any credence to emails that have subject lines that have nothing whatsoever to do with the text of the message (fake replies or promises of seeing celebrities naked). Many of them also contain gibberish in the text or have a countless number of misspellings. It just seems ridiculous to me why people just don't delete these emails on the spot and Google for these same services on the Internet?? Maybe then we could finally be rid of them. Who's with me?!
Well, I guess it was worth a shot.
Well, I guess it was worth a shot.
and don't even need filters. I mean I am getting (well, ok close to) zero!
I simply use dispoable addresses. both yahoo and google mail support these with their premium services ($20/year for yahoo).
I can create a two part address where the second part indicates who I gave that email to. another advantage is that email can sort directly into a folder with the same or dift name WITHOUT FILTERS simply by the name it comes in under (the disposable address that the person mailing you uses).
plus the base address is different from the first part of the disposable address, so that no one can guess your base email address if you don't email out or give it to anyone.
This won't work of course if you have to keep the same email address hanging out on a web page somewhere where email harvesters can find it and then spam you.
It works for personal use. I finally switched when I got 8,000 emails in one day from a 'catch-all' on my domain. chinese criminals were using my domain as fake return address for a particularly nasty huge run and I was only getting the bounces as the 8,000.
Problem with a 'catch-all' is you can't turn off made up addresses.
I simply use dispoable addresses. both yahoo and google mail support these with their premium services ($20/year for yahoo).
I can create a two part address where the second part indicates who I gave that email to. another advantage is that email can sort directly into a folder with the same or dift name WITHOUT FILTERS simply by the name it comes in under (the disposable address that the person mailing you uses).
plus the base address is different from the first part of the disposable address, so that no one can guess your base email address if you don't email out or give it to anyone.
This won't work of course if you have to keep the same email address hanging out on a web page somewhere where email harvesters can find it and then spam you.
It works for personal use. I finally switched when I got 8,000 emails in one day from a 'catch-all' on my domain. chinese criminals were using my domain as fake return address for a particularly nasty huge run and I was only getting the bounces as the 8,000.
Problem with a 'catch-all' is you can't turn off made up addresses.
I use spamfighter free version to kill spam on my home isp at work we have a mail sweep program that does it for us.
On the Exchange servers I install and/or monitor, I use IMF. two Block lists, and recipient filtering. On local workstations, those who get e-mail period, whether or not from Exchange servers, I use SpamBayes. On a mail server associated with a hosted website, I use their implementation of Spam Assassin.
I see maybe one spam making its way into my Inbox each month. At home, I average about 3 a day being filtered by SpamBayes, and at work I see about 15-20 a day filtered from the 6 different accounts I need to at least monitor.
I'm sorry that I cannot tell you how many get blocked at the server level, since I have never run the numbers, but at work, I do get about 50 messages per day in the grey area that must be gone through, of which no more than 7 have been valid. most often the count is 0-1. The worst are the messages written in a Kanji character set, which I need to get my partner to read (he is Chinese) when they are addressed to him or his wife. He reads them and then deletes them, but I never know if they are valid or not, but this only applies to a couple of messages a week.
I see maybe one spam making its way into my Inbox each month. At home, I average about 3 a day being filtered by SpamBayes, and at work I see about 15-20 a day filtered from the 6 different accounts I need to at least monitor.
I'm sorry that I cannot tell you how many get blocked at the server level, since I have never run the numbers, but at work, I do get about 50 messages per day in the grey area that must be gone through, of which no more than 7 have been valid. most often the count is 0-1. The worst are the messages written in a Kanji character set, which I need to get my partner to read (he is Chinese) when they are addressed to him or his wife. He reads them and then deletes them, but I never know if they are valid or not, but this only applies to a couple of messages a week.
...I'd collect each e-mail address and add them to a database. This was back when spammers listed real return e-mail addresses and phone #s because most didn't have web sites at the time. Then, the next time I'd get a spam, I'd forward it to all of the addresses that had previously spammed me. I'd include a header letter thanking the spammer for sending me material that they'd thought would be of interest to me, and stated that I was returning the favor.
The funny part was the indignant and angry responses I'd get from these people for daring to clog their inboxes with crap! It was as though they honestly did not get it. They'd even complain to my ISP about me, which fortunately had a sense of humor and justice. I'd argue that since the spammers had initially taken the step to "establish a commercial relationship" with me, that what I was forwarding back to them was not spam.
The funny part was the indignant and angry responses I'd get from these people for daring to clog their inboxes with crap! It was as though they honestly did not get it. They'd even complain to my ISP about me, which fortunately had a sense of humor and justice. I'd argue that since the spammers had initially taken the step to "establish a commercial relationship" with me, that what I was forwarding back to them was not spam.
I probably wouldn't be far off guessing that you'd also done some work for your ISP and where well known by them already.
By the time spam started to really effect me beyond having the good email and the spam dump email address, returning to sender wouldn't have made any difference. Now, if only the spammers would hand deliver there bulletins so that I may "great" them at the door.
By the time spam started to really effect me beyond having the good email and the spam dump email address, returning to sender wouldn't have made any difference. Now, if only the spammers would hand deliver there bulletins so that I may "great" them at the door.
What a great idea. Too bad something like this couldn't work today.
Their reaction reminds me of the telemarketing firms that are trying to come up with ways to get around telemarketing blocking devices. If I have a blocking device on my phone don't you think it's because I DON'T want to hear from you? I went out of my way to block your calls so why the h@ll would you try to get around it?!
I do a lot of IT security education and it boggles my mind the amount of people who just "don't get it". I get tired of hearing myself say "if you don't know the sender, don't open the email."
Their reaction reminds me of the telemarketing firms that are trying to come up with ways to get around telemarketing blocking devices. If I have a blocking device on my phone don't you think it's because I DON'T want to hear from you? I went out of my way to block your calls so why the h@ll would you try to get around it?!
I do a lot of IT security education and it boggles my mind the amount of people who just "don't get it". I get tired of hearing myself say "if you don't know the sender, don't open the email."
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