Re: [vps-mail] Email dictionary attacks - what would you do?

[Harrison Hind <hhind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Feb 28, 2005 at 10:36:57AM -0800, Ken Douglass wrote:
> A couple weeks ago, a new client moved one of his domains to my VPS2 and
> suddenly, I have a steady stream of incoming junk mail to non-existent users
> at that domain. It's averaging one every 3 seconds, 24 hours per day. They
> come from new and different IP addresses.

<snip>

> Am I handling this the wrong way? What would you do?

If you ran a barbershop and some guy comes walking in with greasy 
matted hair that has lice colonies visible from 10 feet away, wearing 
no shirt or shoes, with pus-oozing sores all over his shoulders and
back, would you cut his hair?

Sorry for the graphic imagery, but it would be interesting to see 
why he left his last hosting company.  I would be willing to bet 
that he had the same problems there. I think it is possible for 
domain names to be infected, (whether due to intentional misuse, 
ignorance, or as an innocent victim it doesn't matter) to the point 
where you don't want to touch them with a 10 foot pole.

I may be able to be more picky than most because I rely on reselling 
hosting to supplement my income rather than put bread on the table, 
but I think that you need to balance the effort required to support
such a client with the return on that effort.

Harrison,

P.S. btw, I was VERY impressed with the level of some of the responses 
on this thread.  I certainly came away knowing more than I did before.
Please don't interpret my "negative" comments to mean that this type
of situation can't be dealt with.  Good luck!
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