Re[8]: [vps-mail] Dramatic increase of spam during last days

[Abigail Marshall <abigail@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

GS> On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 15:36:21 -0700, Abigail Marshall <abigail@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
GS> wrote:

GS> Methinks your mailer isn't doing SMTP AUTH right

I use TheBat! and I have no reason whatsoever to doubt that
it works - if it didn't, then I wouldn't be able to send
email. I do not allow POP-before-send authentication.

GS> and that your VPS is an
GS> otherwise open relay for the block you whitelist as and when your IP address
GS> changes.

No, I tested that. Whitelisting in the access file with OK
does NOT create an open relay that gets around SMTP
authentication, any more than whitelisting a particular
domain. It does mean than any spammer using my ISP would get
around the automatic block lists - but the mail would still
be processed via spamassassin - so all I have done really is
created a "hole" in the blocklist, which obviously is still
far better than not using the blocklist at all. But I would
do this in any case for a false positive - that is, if
someone contacted me to complain that their email was
improperly blocked because of a problem listing, if they had
a dedicated IP I would gladly whitelist it. This would let
them send email to users on our system, but it would not
create an open relay.

The access file does not bypass SMTP authentication or any
other authentication protocol; rather, I think it is simply read
invoked by sendmail before the blocklists, so once the email
has been either blocked or whitelisted via access, the other
tests will not be run against it. I have also used this to
whitelist specific domains that are on the spamhaus block
list, but from which I or my users want to receive email.


GS> Contact me off-list if you like and we can exchange IP information so that I
GS> can run a few tests.

Actually, to tell you the truth, I don't see it as a
problem. If anything, it's an extra layer of security.

I don't know if this is relevant or not, but I am using Port
5190 for SMTP authentication on the VPS2.

-Abigail

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