OT - say hello to spam

[Mark Carter]

I don't know if anyone is getting the same problem as me, but there
appears to be a new way of getting through spam filters. The basic idea
appears to be to append reasonably sensible text to the end of emails.
Here's an email that I got recently:

=== begin
Hello. This brand new site is all about dating.
You can view profiles of more then 100.000
females online, chat with and even exchange
phone numbers. Imagine all the hot babes you
that wait to meet guy like you and signed up
for this site just to meet you!
Don't hasitat!

<SUCKY SPAMMY URL REMOVED>

comments great site nicely put toget her i m a student of wtf tae kwon
do and still a bit messed up from competition but i enjoyed it
thoroughly and had a good laugh.
comments you are right tony lots more to the site than first look sees
hope ever yone goes back for deeper look eye on the prize we will get
there together.
comments i am a member of the cheezic tang soo do federation i hold the
rank of cho dan just wanted to say hello tang soo!
very very nice site!!! thanks for the abcard and for the invitation and
forvisiting my site your poetry is so wonderful!
by andrzej kalisz dachengquan yiquan is a martial art created by master
wang xiangzhai on basis of xingyiquan.
=== end

*Groan*. That means that spammers could, for instance, send out shite,
with some news (which they may have got from Google, for instance)
tagged on to the end. This looks like an effective way of confusing up
spam filters.

Not that I'm sure about what it is that's supposed to be achieved.
Advertisers seem to be under the impression that deceiving you with
transparently false subject headers and rider content is supposed to
endear you to their products. It's like coming home to your house at
night to find a salesman had picked your locks and stood there in your
living room, and immediately launched into his sales pitch. You'd hardly
be receptive to whatever it was that he had to say.

Jeez, the world just got a lot sicker.

 

[Fran]

There will always be new spam filters and new ways of tricking them. DNSBL
filter works pretty god for me (Spampal), but I changed address recently.
Strangely enough, only spam that found me was a local (I'm from Croatia)
betting site. So, if you can, your best option would be to change e-mail
address and be very careful where you leave it.

 

[ms]

I don't know if anyone is getting the same problem as me, but there
appears to be a new way of getting through spam filters. The basic idea
appears to be to append reasonably sensible text to the end of emails.

I see a lot of posts on spam filters, maybe it depends on the amount of
spam you get. I use Popcorn, always check on the server first before
downloading anything. 99% of the time, the header tells me it's spam,
rarely do I have to open it on the server to look in the message (simulated
bank emails, etc.) before deleting it.

Is the use of a spam filter necessary, with filter rules changing, when the
manual mode works pretty well?

BTW, new subject, what is purpose of the listings of links you post?

Mike Sa

 

[Michael Laplante]

I don't know if anyone is getting the same problem as me, but there
appears to be a new way of getting through spam filters.

Yes, goes with the trick of using misleading headers or deliberate
mis-spelling of "red alert" words. Periodically, I get messages that are
nothing but strings of words such as you describe but there's no pitch or
product being promoted. What's that about? Are those test messages?

I use PopTray which deletes about 99% of spam. It lets me view the headers
before messages leave the server so I can quickly get rid of the one or two
that make it through. It's not the only freeware out there that will do that
though so test 'em out. In an extreme case, it will allow you to set up
"white" list -- if you aren't on the list, you don't get through, period.

There was one that I almost went with that would automatically send a reply
back to anyone not in your approved list asking them to answer a question to
which only people you notified would know the answer. If there was no
correct answer (or no reply) then the original message was deleted and that
person wasn't added to the "white" list. Spammers don't reply or don't know
the answer. That program might be the answer to your needs but I can't
remember the name of it. Maybe someone here can help.

M

 

[Mark Carter]

Mark Carter wrote:

BTW, new subject, what is purpose of the listings of links you post?

It seemed like a good idea. You get to see all the links for the day on
one post, which is useful for those people that find that kind of thing
useful. If you see what I mean.

 

[Fran]

It is if you get 100+ spam per day. I first set up spam filter for my dad
who recieves a lot of spam on his business e-mail, where he can't change the
address. He recieves about 200-250 emails per day, only 5-10 of which are
not spam. Manual mode is not really an option. But who knows, maybe that is
really the future of spam filtering : instead of all these inaccurate
filtering programs, maybe we will have huge sweat shops where people will
delete spam all day from other people's accounts for 5$ a day

 

[Sweet Andy]

Yes, goes with the trick of using misleading headers or deliberate
mis-spelling of "red alert" words. Periodically, I get messages that are
nothing but strings of words such as you describe but there's no pitch or
product being promoted. What's that about? Are those test messages?

I use PopTray which deletes about 99% of spam. It lets me view the headers
before messages leave the server so I can quickly get rid of the one or
two
that make it through. It's not the only freeware out there that will do
that
though so test 'em out. In an extreme case, it will allow you to set up
"white" list -- if you aren't on the list, you don't get through, period.

There was one that I almost went with that would automatically send a
reply
back to anyone not in your approved list asking them to answer a question
to
which only people you notified would know the answer. If there was no
correct answer (or no reply) then the original message was deleted and
that
person wasn't added to the "white" list. Spammers don't reply or don't
know
the answer. That program might be the answer to your needs but I can't
remember the name of it. Maybe someone here can help.

M

Wasn't bluebottle.com set up with that in mind? I don't remember the name of
a program that did this, but bluebottle has that concept. I have taken to
getting my mail on the web (thru a pay site) and it vastly cuts down on the
spam...still get a few though. No email even stays on my PC. I do send a few
through an email client, but that is a special case. All receiving is done
via the web interface.

If you're looking for a recommendation, PopTray is nice, I used to use it,
but no need now.

 

[Frank Bohan]

It is if you get 100+ spam per day. I first set up spam filter for my dad
who recieves a lot of spam on his business e-mail, where he can't change
the address. He recieves about 200-250 emails per day, only 5-10 of which
are not spam. Manual mode is not really an option. But who knows, maybe
that is really the future of spam filtering : instead of all these
inaccurate filtering programs, maybe we will have huge sweat shops where
people will delete spam all day from other people's accounts for 5$ a day

Use a good spam filter program, such as Spampal, and avoid publishing your
permanent e-mail address.
Have a look at:
http://www.mailinater.com/mailinator/Welcome.do

Just for laughs, have a look also at:
http://www.softlab.ece.ntua.gr/~sivann/pub/swf/may02-smilepop-soapbox4.swf

===

Frank Bohan
¶ Men are like government bonds: They take so long to mature.

 

[Richard Steinfeld]

I don't know if anyone is getting the same problem as me, but there
appears to be a new way of getting through spam filters. The basic idea
appears to be to append reasonably sensible text to the end of emails.
Here's an email that I got recently:

=== begin
Hello. This brand new site is all about dating.
You can view profiles of more then 100.000
females online, chat with and even exchange
phone numbers. Imagine all the hot babes you
that wait to meet guy like you and signed up
for this site just to meet you!
Don't hasitat!

This sounds pretty eggregious. I haven't gotten any like this yet.
I hate receiving the ads that are tacked onto email from Yahoo accounts,
and frankly, I wish that people would just boycott Yahoo -- and just use
their own normal email account from their ISP. But that's my preference
and it may not be yours. I tend to read everything and I really dislike
intrusive advertising tugging at my consciousness.

What's really galling is that Yahoo tacks these ads onto emails from
their _paid_ accounts. I wonder if there's a way to turn this off.
Anyone know?

I'm blessed with a great ISP (Sonic in Santa Rosa, California). Sonic
passes all mail through a sophisticated routine named "Spam Assassin,"
which is extremely effective at removing spam from my inbox -- there are
virtually no false positives. I'm getting about 2-3 spams per _week._

Spam Assassin is a cooperative effort among a group of small ISPs. The
program is trainable and highly tweakable, both by the ISP and by the
subscriber. My service just uses the defaults now.

The insidious method that you presented, however, is one that seems
unstoppable to me, unless it's nipped at the source -- where it probably
gets onto your own outmail. I suspect it's a virus.

Richard

 

[Meterus]

£¥¥It is if you get 100+ spam per day.

(The rest be gone)

I get about 70-80 spam per day, with, maybe, 7 that aren't spam. I'm using
Foxmail, got the Bayesian accumulating. Trouble is, to get the Bayes to work, I
need 1000 spam, and 1000 non-spam. At this rate, I'll need the rest of the year
to fill the 1000 non-spam.

 

[cactus]

£¥¥It is if you get 100+ spam per day.

(The rest be gone)

I get about 70-80 spam per day, with, maybe, 7 that aren't spam. I'm using
Foxmail, got the Bayesian accumulating. Trouble is, to get the Bayes to work, I
need 1000 spam, and 1000 non-spam. At this rate, I'll need the rest of the year
to fill the 1000 non-spam.

I suggest popfile http://popfile.sourceforge.net/ as a spam filter.

Also, your ISP may be filtering some spam that you never see. Download
that and use it as training material. Might speed things up a bit.