AOL testing new antispam technology
Posted by configure on 23 January 2004 - 08:02 · 8 comments & 967 views
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#1 Posted by Wrath Delivery on 23 Jan 2004 - 09:28
- I've always wanted domain keys!!! I thought it would be really neat if every email was signed by the domain it originated from, that would allow forwarding by arbitrary servers but still allow verification of the message origin... wicked. Go Yahoo.
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(2 replies)
#2 Posted by chilliadus on 23 Jan 2004 - 10:29
- Hmm, wasn't AOL the nation's biggest spam CD sender that offered "XXXX Free Hours"? LOL
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#2.1 Posted by jameseuk on 23 Jan 2004 - 13:00
- I would say so I got loads of the discs sent to my home addy
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#3 Posted by NXTwoThou on 23 Jan 2004 - 13:18
- There's been a long discussion in the mailing list for the mail server software I use about SPF. Most think it'll be completely ineffecutal.
The only good thing about it is that it only takes a few seconds to get setup.
Basically your able to say mydomain.com addies can only come from a certain set of ip addresses. Takes one TXT record to do.
The big problem is for, suprise-suprise, groups like aol for broadband where the ip addy isn't within aol's netblock and I'm pretty certain they aren't going to list every possible sign-up.
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#4 Posted by redFX on 23 Jan 2004 - 14:17
- The email protocols itself need to be rewritten from the ground up to include security features and measures.
The protocols we are using were built for a trusted network. The Internet is anything but trusted. They should just trash it and built it from scratch. Stop trying to patch something thats dead and build something new.
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#5 Posted by Happy_Bob on 23 Jan 2004 - 15:58
- It's hard to take AOL's complaints about spam seriously when they've sold their entire customer list directly to spammers: Link
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“He claims he obtained all his addresses legally, adding that AOL gladly sold him the company's entire customer directory. Given the opportunity to deny that, Leonsis, vice chairman of AOL, did not.”
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#6 Posted by _XtaC_ on 23 Jan 2004 - 20:59
- i don't see what difference this will make considering anyone can spoof their ip address. the spammer will just pick random servers and spoof the ips.
AOL is conducting a trial of a new e-mail protocol called Sender Permitted From, or SPF, across its entire user base of 33 million subscribers. The company hopes that SPF will eliminate e-mail forgeries by enabling organizations to specify which servers are allowed to send mail on behalf of their Internet domain, according to AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham .
SPF stops e-mail address spoofing by modifying the Domain Name System (DNS) to declare which servers can send mail from a particular Internet domain. AOL is using SPF to publish the IP (Internet Protocol) addresses of the servers it uses to send outgoing e-mail. DNS is the system that translates numeric IP addresses into readable Internet domain names.
Once widely deployed, SPF records can be referenced by Mail Transfer Agents (MTAs) stationed throughout the Internet when routing e-mail messages from a particular domain to determine whether an e-mail message's source is legitimate or "spoofed," according to Graham.
AOL briefly tested the protocol two weeks ago, before shutting it off to make technical changes based on feedback from other ISPs, according to Graham, who declined to describe the changes.
The program is still experimental and for the time being AOL will not use SPF to filter mail from other Internet domains, Graham said. "(SPF) is just getting off the ground. AOL is interested in putting the proposal out there and getting feedback from stakeholders," he said. Those stakeholders include other major ISPs such as Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, Yahoo Inc. and Earthlink Inc., as well as other major domain owners processing bulk e-mail, Graham said.
The trial is a major test of SPF, which is one of a number of new technologies designed to thwart spammers, according to John Levine, co-chairman of the Anti-Spam Research Group.
SPF patches a hole in SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), which is currently used to route e-mail messages from one e-mail inbox to another. Developed in the early 1980s, SMTP was designed to provide a reliable and efficient way to relay messages between host systems using different computer hardware and operating systems.
In recent years, spammers and viruses such as Sobig-F and the recent Beagle/Bagel worm have exploited SMTP's flexibility, easily transposing the actual source of messages with legitimate e-mail addresses from lists that are traded online or harvested from infected computers' hard drives.
The long term benefit of SPF is that, when the technology is widely deployed, e-mail providers will be able to associate reputations with Internet domains rather than with IP addresses, which are harder to track, according to Eric Raymond, president of the Open Source Initiative, who gave a presentation on SPF during January's Spam Conference 2004 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
SPF itself will not stop spam, but it will help other antispam technologies like spam traps, by enabling spam to be tracked back to specific domains and forcing spammers to move to new domains more frequently, Raymond said. The combination of technologies can be likened to a "drug cocktail" that, taken together, may stop spam, he said.
However, the protocol still has problems, including incompatibility with some e-mail forwarding services and Web sites that use mail forwarding features, Levine said. For example, online greeting card services and news Web sites use forwarding to allow readers to send e-mail cards and articles to friends, Levine said.
SPF also causes performance problems under certain circumstances and has features that spammers could exploit to slow down and derail the system, he said. "I would be surprised if SPF survived in its current form, but something like it might survive," Levine said.
Levine is more optimistic about a technology called "domain keys," which is being championed by Yahoo and uses public key encryption technology at the domain level to verify an e-mail message sender.
AOL realizes SPF's problems and is soliciting feedback from other users on it, Graham said. "We want to remind folks that we're in the beta process. These are things that are in consideration as we make refinements and enhancements (to SPF)," Graham said.
AOL's current test of SPF is scheduled to run for the foreseeable future, pending feedback from ISPs, organizations receiving AOL e-mail in bulk and ordinary Internet users. However, AOL will wait for consensus within the Internet community before making any final moves regarding SPF. "It's premature to start looking forward. This is intended to be nothing less than a collaborative, cooperative process," he said.