Forum Moderators: phranque
In reference to spam messages containing random words and meaningless sentences:
I read somewhere here that those meaningless sentences were randomly generated to form a unique tracking key.
I guess it's possible to use those sentences as a tracking key, but the main reason is an attempt to thwart Bayesian filtering techniques.
That thread seems to be talking about spam messages that actually have a point to them, or at least some real content. But lately, I've been getting spam where the entire message is nothing but those random words. Here's an example I just got today through my catchall account:
To: dasdashdasdusdfhsdufhaspghfsgd@mydomain.com
Subject: hybrid bakersfield caputo piccolo basin ellwood coriolanus stopover bereft certified sextet airflow weather plover gibe pritchard pigeonfoot acolyte biotic restrict foamflower grandson disperse penance logo babyhood sandalwood inductor l's gallberry gunde
Message: defect beforehand codetermine biometry camouflage bayesian adrenaline forestry courtroom antiquarian practice
That's it. No offer to buy anything, no unsubscribe information, nothing. Viewing the source of the message reveals only the words in message body, with no images, scripts, or anything else. No virus was attached. Leaving me with the question, What's the point?
Does anyone know what the purpose of such a message would be? I really don't get it. It gets dumped right away, never so much as an autoresponse. I fail to see any possible use for such an e-mail, but I'm sure nobody is going to all this trouble for nothing . . .
But since no images are downloaded and no scripts are called, how would they know if they message had been delivered? Simply the lack of a bounce message?
Maybe they're testing to see if given domains have catchall accounts.
But since no images are downloaded and no scripts are called, how would they know if they message had been delivered? Simply the lack of a bounce message?
I'm getting quite a few of these recently - so there's obviously some reason for them!
To be on the safe side it's probably best not to open any spam you get anyway...no matter how curious you are.
I know, normally I don't (in fact I didn't open this one at all, the person who receives our catchall e-mail received it and asked me to look at it).
However, I do keep my preview pane open, which I thought was basically safe as far as viruses are concerned since it can't actually run a script in there. In fact I almost never actually "open" an e-mail unless I'm replying or forwarding; I just use the preview pane. Is that bad practice?
Is there a Web site -- like, oh, spammasterworld.com -- where we could go and ask the spammers about these things?
Jennifer
As long as their using the bandwidth to test-spam, why not at least try to make something while they're at it?
[edited by: flood6 at 3:25 pm (utc) on June 30, 2004]
How else are they propagating then, except by the preview pane? Her machine is set up exactly as is mine. When I frag the nasties, I make sure that she's not left any holes elsewhere. I have never myself on any of my machines (set up just like hers) had either a virus or a worm or a trojan. I DO NOT use a preview pane. I am totally unable to convince her to either NOT preview, or to use mailwasher (which is what I do).
I think you should turn it off. Use mailwasher instead - you can preview mail on the server before it hits your machine. Much safer...
You didn't say whether or not you've switched off html. You can't get viruses by reading text.
In fact, I'm not sure how this "switch off the preview pane" thing works. The preview pane is a means of finding out what is spam and what not. If you switch off the preview pane, how do you find out what the content of an email is without opening it?
If you switch off the preview pane, how do you find out what the content of an email is without opening it?
The problem is the html in an email. If you don't look at that, you're okay. As I said, you can't catch a virus from text.
Open "View", select "Layout", remove the check from the box at the bottom of the screen....
Actually, my cousin does use html email (well, so do I, since both of us use Incredimail), but as far as I know (or she's willing to admit to) the only attachments she opens are from ME (about 1 per year....) or her daughters, and only if we've let her know beforehand. Her DAUGHTERS don't have these problems either.
Sure, it's possible she's not telling me the whole story. *shrug* Doesn't matter, I don't want or need the preview pane anyway, I look at anything I'm unsure about ON THE SERVER by using mailwasher pro, and get rid of it before it ever hits my machine.
[As an aside, I've tried most of the herein-recommended spamwhacker apps, and have just returned to mailwasher as being by far the simplest safest routine....]
Three methods have been described:
There's a dissenting voice from MatthewHSE, who puts what I think is excessive trust in his anti-virus software. But he does allude to an important point when he talks about the solutions appearing to be a lot of work.
If users think that preventing viruses is more effort that it is worth, then, sooner or later, they're going to get a virus, because sooner or later they're not going to put the effort into preventing viruses. So the important question is not what is an effective way of preventing catching viruses via spam, but what is an apparently easy, effective way of preventing catching viruses via spam.
There's a dissenting voice from MatthewHSE, who puts what I think is excessive trust in his anti-virus software.
I accept that as constructive criticism, and honestly appreciate it. Why do you think I put excessive trust in my anti-virus software? It hasn't let me down yet, but I'm willing to listen to whatever reason you have. But I would really like to know what danger the preview pane can present. As I've said before, it can't run script, and I don't see how a plain text or HTML message could invoke a virus. I'm willing to be proven wrong though.
I just can't see using these other solutions to avoid viruses when I've been hit with all the nasty ones in the book, and Norton has grabbed them all without a hitch.
First ..any images in incoming html spam are usually sourced from their ( the spammers )website or one they can get the stats from..
( the exceptions being bank logos , ebay logos etc in phishing spam ..so If the banks etc were serious about security all they'd have to do is write htaccess files and update their protected logos a little...wouldn't solve phishing but would make it much harder ...sorry I drifted OT )..
This means that as you are watching "teenwhatevers" coming into focus they know you are and will send you another one of these emails or sell your address as "a live one " just as soon as they check their stats ...
Switching off preview in html will reduce your spam levels better than any software ...ever..
Second ..outlook express ( before XPP ) is hackable via html ..not gonna say how ..some of those of you reading know this ..the rest don't need lessons in hacking ..
the version shipped with XP is better but not perfect..
viewing in text is ok ..but you don't need the preview pane until your outlook has fiished loading and you have switched off the net connection ...for one thing trojans can use the open port to talk through ..
whats happening at your server and why is another matter and as it's now 04.00 am where I am it can wait till Monday ..less someone else wants to explain zombies and DOS etc etc....
