Re: post.office

James T. Robson ( (no email) )
Mon, 24 Mar 1997 02:41:31 -0500

Lee,
I'm in the process of picking a new mail server as I type, but thanks to
your attitude, my decision will be easier. At least I won't have to
consider Post Office. Thanks for the help. It's a tough decision anyway
you look at it but refusing to fix security holes as big as a barn door is
inexcusable. Thank God companies with your kind of attitude don't last
long. Cheers, Robie

----------
> From: Lee Levitt <Lee.Levitt@software.com>
> To: ntisp@emerald.iea.com
> Subject: Re: post.office
> Date: Sunday, March 23, 1997 8:16 PM
>
> At 06:57 PM 3/23/97 -0600, Daryl Banttari wrote:
> >Hi Everyone,
> >
> >I've been following this post.office spammer thread with some interest.
> >Here's an idea:
> >
> >Set up a machine as a mail forwarder (only), and point MX to it. Use
> >only a hosts file for name resolution (disable DNS) so that the only
> >machine the forwarder can look up by name is the "real" mail server.
> >Make sure the hosts file includes an entry for the domain itself that
> >points to the real mail server. Any SMTP for your system goes through
> >through the forwarder to the real mail host, and any mail hitting that
> >"inbound" mail server for other mail servers dies as undeliverable.
> >Then block tcp:25 in to your "real" mail server. It's kludgy but it may
> >work for some of you with a spare machine and a few hours of time.
> >
> >It does nothing to actually fix the core problem, i.e. buggy software
> >and poor support, but I'm offering this suggestion for those of you
> >pushed against the wall by this.
>
> So lets see, we build a product that adheres to the IETF standard for MTA
> relaying, and you call it "buggy" as a result? I don't think that's fair.
>
> I understand your pain WRT spam, but the problem is *not* a bug, it's
> adherence to the spec that defines how our product interoperates across
the
> Internet. And *any* mailserver that conforms to the IETF spec is
> susceptible to being used as a spam relay.
>
> What we're working on is a workaround to the problem, one that doesn't
> corrupt the spec we must adhere to.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Lee
> *************************************************************
> Lee Levitt, Director, Business Development
> Lee.Levitt@software.com
> Software.com - The Internet Infrastructure Company (tm)
> Publishers of Post.Office and InterMail
> 91 Hartwell Avenue http://www.software.com
> Lexington, MA 02173
> Phone: 617-274-7000 x 229 Fax: 617-674-1080
> *************************************************************
>
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