Re: OT request for arcane tech help

ps gives a new twist on calling myself a "gummist"...
Chris
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jack Brubaker" <jack@jackbrubaker.com>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>
Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2006 8:11 PM
Subject: Re: OT request for arcane tech help

> Keith,
>
> There are sights that are set up to catch misspelled searches. Think of a
> way to misspell Google and a site will come up. If someone meant to type a
> C
> where you have a G they might have been after something other than gum
> prints. It could be there is someone who wants your address to catch that
> misspelling.
>
> Jack
>
>> From: Keith Gerling <Keith@GumPhoto.com>
>> Reply-To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
>> Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2006 11:29:15 -0700
>> To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
>> Subject: RE: OT request for arcane tech help
>>
>> Hi Liam,
>>
>> My concern is that my domain name finds itself added to spam filters thus
>> rendering my email address useless for communication. My mailbox has
>> been
>> filled up with bounced messages, and I cringe at the thought of the
>> number
>> of messages that WERE successfully delivered with "from gumphoto.com".
>> My
>> hosting service, who has treated this issue in a somewhat cavalier
>> fashion,
>> insists that the "from" field has, indeed, been used, and that spam
>> filtering services are aware of this tactic and that there is no true
>> risk
>> of "permanent damage". Looking at the headers of the bounced messages, I
>> see a confusing mess of different ip addresses, so I suppose they may be
>> correct and that the SMTP service at the webhost is NOT being used for
>> spam
>> relay. But a security scan that Gordon was kind enough to run for me
>> does
>> indicate that there may be some lax security at my webhost. The whole
>> issue
>> has been a big pain and I have to wonder that if the "from" field can
>> indeed
>> be anything, why pick an actual domain? Why even bother with harvesting,
>> which I thought was more appropriate to finding recipients for spam, not
>> fake senders?
>>
>> Thanks for the info.
>>
>> Keith
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Liam Lawless [mailto:lawless@bulldoghome.com]
>> Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 8:07 PM
>> To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
>> Subject: RE: OT request for arcane tech help
>>
>>
>> Keith,
>>
>> My wife's e-mail has recently been subject to a similar attack. I'm no
>> expert on these things and her domain host wasn't interested, but I've
>> been
>> doing a bit of reading on the web and it seems likely that the e-mail
>> attached to her domain has been "harvested" from the internet, a
>> discussion
>> forum or somesuch. It seems that anyone sending an e-mail can put
>> anything
>> they like in the "From" field, and the reason that spammers use fake
>> addresses is that large volumes of mail will be flagged by their ISPs.
>>
>> It is said that spammers usually move on to a different address after a
>> week
>> or two, but it may be possible to deflect the bounce messages by
>> disabling
>> the catchall feature of your e-mail account. To do this for my wife's
>> account, I had to go to her domain's control panel, click on "Default
>> Mail
>> Account", then "Set Default Address (Catch All)", and type ":fail:" in
>> the
>> box which asks where unrouted mail to the account should be sent. Any
>> bounce messages addressed to qytwehx@herdomain.com (or other name made
>> from
>> random characters) should then go back to the original sender who,
>> hopefully, will then move on to someone else's e-mail address.
>>
>> I've only done this tonight, so can't say if it's worked yet, and of
>> course
>> your control panel will probably be different.
>>
>> And a disadvantage, I suppose, is that you cannot use the catchall
>> feature,
>> but hope this is some help.
>>
>>
>>
>> Liam
>>
>> ---
>> [This E-mail has been scanned for viruses but it is your responsibility
>> to maintain up to date anti virus software on the device that you are
>> currently using to read this email. ]
>>
>>
>>
>
>
Received on Mon May 1 00:02:02 2006