Christmas, Hanukkah, Rohatsu, etc...
Ok, it's now after Thanksgiving here in the USA and officially (in my mind anyway) we can let the Christmas, Hanukkah, Rohatsu, Winter Solstice and whatever else is celebrated this time of year begin.
I know it's official because I just put the traditional CMS December banner on the top of just about every page on the
CMS web site. I admit it's PC to use the supposedly non-offensive "Happy Holidays" phrase but I didn't have a lot of room to include everyone in my site's headers.
So everyone, sit back, enjoy the parties, ceremonies and rituals and let's not get offended by what the guy down the block is doing.
The festivities of December pass all too quickly to be angry and besides, it will soon be January and then we can all, rightfully be offended by the weather. I know that the foot of snow that will soon be on my driveway will offend me.
AAS
Tags:
spam filter Holiday Christmas Hanukkah
230% Increase in Spam Attacks
“It looks like we're seeing a ramp-up in Reverse NDR attacks” said the opening line of an email I received from the President of CMS. To say the least it was an understatement.
230%, that’s the increase the CMS email "stat man" has seen in RNDR attacks over the past month.
Why? Well the answer is simple, Christmas and the rest of the holidays are just around the corner so spammers are taking advantage of the increase in shopping that is just about to occur.
CMS coined the term “Reverse NDR” attack
back in 2003 and since then it’s come into common use on the Internet (
here,
here,
here, and many more) and Discussion Groups (
here,
here ,
here and of course, many more).
If you’re not familiar with this backdoor, indirect relay spam attack check out the
main RNDR page on the CMS website. There’s also a
quick test to take to determine your email system's RNDR vulnerability.
So, I hope your spam filter can deal with RNDR and other spam email that’s sure to flood cyberspace in the upcoming weeks. I know Praetor can.
And finally, be aware that solutions to RNDR, other than Praetor, are incomplete and actually increase the possibility of
Directory Harvest Attacks.
Ho, Ho, Ho. The holiday spam flood is here.
AAS
Tags: spam filter Holiday Christmas antispam Directory Harvest RNDR Reverse NDR
DNS Blacklist Tool
Here's an inside peak at a soon to be released, helpful little tool from Computer Mail Services, Inc.
BL-Monitor is a simple utility capability of testing multiple DNSBL servers to determine which blacklist server is fastest for your email environment.
Quicker DNSBL response times and more comprehensive filtering will add up to a more efficient email network for you.
Paraphrasing the famous Senator Dirkson quote "
A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking real money!" we get "A millisecond here, a millisecond there...". Oh you get the idea.
Watch this space. I’ll give a shout out when BL-Monitor is officially released.
AAS
Tags: spam filter DNSBL Blacklist antispam Senate
