Re: Clueless anti-virus products/vendors (was Re: Sober)

From: Edward B. Dreger (eddy+public+)
Date: Wed Dec 07 2005 - 19:06:01 EST

  • Next message: Douglas Otis: "Re: Clueless anti-virus products/vendors (was Re: Sober)"

    DO> Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 14:15:00 -0800
    DO> From: Douglas Otis

    DO> > Perhaps DSNs should be sent to the original recipient, not the purported
    DO> > sender. RFC-compliant? No. Ridiculous? Less so than pestering a
    DO> > random third party. Let the intended recipient communicate OOB or
    DO> > manually if needed.
    DO>
    DO> Being refused by the intended recipient would be the cause for the DSN.

    Fine. But where to send it? Certainly not to a random address.

    DO> > DO> furthermore a DSN could be desired even for cases where an
    DO> > authorization
    DO> >
    DO> > When auth fails, one knows *right then* c/o an SMTP reject. No bounce
    DO> > is necessary.
    DO>
    DO> This assumes all messages are rejected within the SMTP session.

    Perhaps we're examining different "authorization" cases. Maybe my
    mindset of "SMTP auth" is too narrow for your intended scope.

    DO> > DO> scheme fails. Why create corner cases?
    DO> >
    DO> > The corner case is that a virus _might_ actually have a realistic "From"
    DO> > address. :-)
    DO>
    DO> You mean bounce-address? A From address often has nothing to do with where
    DO> a message originated.
    DO>
    DO> SPF has _nothing_ to do with the From address.

    Errrr, "return-path". Freudian slip dealing with some site local
    experiments... "from" is not as accurate as "return-path", but it's far
    from (no pun intended) useless.

    DO> Once again, not _all_ messages are rejected within the SMTP session. False

    Of course not.

    DO> positives are not 0%. To ensure the integrity of email delivery, not
    DO> including message content and using a null bounce-address should be the
    DO> recommended practice at the initial recipient. If you do not want to see
    DO> DSNs with spoofed bounce-addresses, employ BATV at _your_ end should be the
    DO> recommended practice. You would not need to insist that anything special be
    DO> done at millions of other locations.

    Oh well. I guess I've pretty much given up on pre-body filtering... so
    I suppose it would be too idyllic to expect anything different with
    DSNs.

    Hmmmm. BATV-triggered bounces. Virus triggers forged bounce which in
    turn triggers "your DSN was misguided" bounce. Perhaps the bandwidth
    growth of the '90s will continue. ;-)

    Eddy

    --
    Everquick Internet - http://www.everquick.net/
    A division of Brotsman & Dreger, Inc. - http://www.brotsman.com/
    Bandwidth, consulting, e-commerce, hosting, and network building
    Phone: +1 785 865 5885 Lawrence and [inter]national
    Phone: +1 316 794 8922 Wichita
    ________________________________________________________________________
    DO NOT send mail to the following addresses:
     -*-  -*- 
    Sending mail to spambait addresses is a great way to get blocked.
    Ditto for broken OOO autoresponders and foolish AV software backscatter.
    

  • Next message: Douglas Otis: "Re: Clueless anti-virus products/vendors (was Re: Sober)"





    Hosted Email Solutions

    Invaluement Anti-Spam DNSBLs



    Powered By FreeBSD   Powered By FreeBSD