1440 Spam
-
Yesterday I logged over 1440 spam messages recieved through two filter systems. 1. PopWeasel, 2 SpamBayes. Also my ISP uses ??Brightmail?? to trash some spam. This is a stack of spam. Sure I can grab another Domain name at some stage and create new email addresses for myself. But what is scary are the reports that spam bandwidth usage is growing faster than bandwidth. I'm sure you could demonstrate how spam now is actually creating greenhouse gasses. Anyhow, you might be asking why was 1440 a barrier or a memorable number (unless you are Nish). Well, 1440 equates to one spam per minute. Regardz Colin J Davies
*** WARNING *
This could be addictive
**The minion's version of "Catch :bob: "It's a real shame that people as stupid as you can work out how to use a computer. said by Christian Graus in the Soapbox
-
Yesterday I logged over 1440 spam messages recieved through two filter systems. 1. PopWeasel, 2 SpamBayes. Also my ISP uses ??Brightmail?? to trash some spam. This is a stack of spam. Sure I can grab another Domain name at some stage and create new email addresses for myself. But what is scary are the reports that spam bandwidth usage is growing faster than bandwidth. I'm sure you could demonstrate how spam now is actually creating greenhouse gasses. Anyhow, you might be asking why was 1440 a barrier or a memorable number (unless you are Nish). Well, 1440 equates to one spam per minute. Regardz Colin J Davies
*** WARNING *
This could be addictive
**The minion's version of "Catch :bob: "It's a real shame that people as stupid as you can work out how to use a computer. said by Christian Graus in the Soapbox
i take a pretty dim view of advertising in general, and it's hard to find a more obvious example of the waste it causes than spam. There'll always be snake-oil salesmen i guess... :sigh:
But in the end, it's all just database access right? And that stuff is just plain boring.
- David Stone, not a programming question but...
-
Yesterday I logged over 1440 spam messages recieved through two filter systems. 1. PopWeasel, 2 SpamBayes. Also my ISP uses ??Brightmail?? to trash some spam. This is a stack of spam. Sure I can grab another Domain name at some stage and create new email addresses for myself. But what is scary are the reports that spam bandwidth usage is growing faster than bandwidth. I'm sure you could demonstrate how spam now is actually creating greenhouse gasses. Anyhow, you might be asking why was 1440 a barrier or a memorable number (unless you are Nish). Well, 1440 equates to one spam per minute. Regardz Colin J Davies
*** WARNING *
This could be addictive
**The minion's version of "Catch :bob: "It's a real shame that people as stupid as you can work out how to use a computer. said by Christian Graus in the Soapbox
ColinDavies wrote: Yesterday I logged over 1440 spam messages recieved through two filter systems "Challenge and Response" system. It would take care of all that spam. If people just used them, there would be no spam. If automated mail cannot reach you unless it is on your white list, these spammers would stop. Filters are a joke when it comes to spam. The spammers just find other methods through them. Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com
-
ColinDavies wrote: Yesterday I logged over 1440 spam messages recieved through two filter systems "Challenge and Response" system. It would take care of all that spam. If people just used them, there would be no spam. If automated mail cannot reach you unless it is on your white list, these spammers would stop. Filters are a joke when it comes to spam. The spammers just find other methods through them. Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com
I have a number of Spam identifing systems on my work computer (upon which I need to be able to accept emails from unknown sources). SpamBayes is very good at spotting my spam now it is trained with over 10000 messages, near 100% hit rate. Some unknown messages get flagged as "unsure" and I then train as good/bad. The company also uses SpamAssassin to add a category indicating what it thinks of the message. It too uses Bayes filtering. Email messages from "outside" the company and an unknown source almost always START with a spam percentage of > 50%. I've got some quite complex software recording my spam trends (good enough to report changes of behaviour to our IT department and notice new spam lists). I get about 200 spam messages a day, which doesn't bother me yet whilst I'm busy monitoring it but I guess it could get a little much. At home, over the last 3 years I have got ONE spam message (and I get messages to the whole domain [bit after the @])!! Regards, Ray
-
I have a number of Spam identifing systems on my work computer (upon which I need to be able to accept emails from unknown sources). SpamBayes is very good at spotting my spam now it is trained with over 10000 messages, near 100% hit rate. Some unknown messages get flagged as "unsure" and I then train as good/bad. The company also uses SpamAssassin to add a category indicating what it thinks of the message. It too uses Bayes filtering. Email messages from "outside" the company and an unknown source almost always START with a spam percentage of > 50%. I've got some quite complex software recording my spam trends (good enough to report changes of behaviour to our IT department and notice new spam lists). I get about 200 spam messages a day, which doesn't bother me yet whilst I'm busy monitoring it but I guess it could get a little much. At home, over the last 3 years I have got ONE spam message (and I get messages to the whole domain [bit after the @])!! Regards, Ray
On of the most dangerous aspects of filting is that legitmate mail can get flagged as spam (false positives) and if you are not careful you will lose mail. With "Challenge and Response", you never have that happen and 100% of automated email is blocked unless it is on your white list. No training nor hoping it does not lose your mail. Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com
-
On of the most dangerous aspects of filting is that legitmate mail can get flagged as spam (false positives) and if you are not careful you will lose mail. With "Challenge and Response", you never have that happen and 100% of automated email is blocked unless it is on your white list. No training nor hoping it does not lose your mail. Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com
Rocky Moore wrote: On of the most dangerous aspects of filting is that legitmate mail can get flagged as spam (false positives) and if you are not careful you will lose mail. With "Challenge and Response", you never have that happen and 100% of automated email is blocked unless it is on your white list. No training nor hoping it does not lose your mail. Can you point me to some plug-in (ideally free) that will allow me to investigate? I currently get about 250 messages a day of which anything upto 80% can be spam but plenty may be valid but previously unheard of. Using SpamBayes, I have not yet had a false positive -- although I have had a few "unsure[s]". Because they are moved to different folders, the unsure ones are highlighted to me. I also mark my Spam as read manually (allowing me to check them quickly). Regards, Ray
-
Rocky Moore wrote: On of the most dangerous aspects of filting is that legitmate mail can get flagged as spam (false positives) and if you are not careful you will lose mail. With "Challenge and Response", you never have that happen and 100% of automated email is blocked unless it is on your white list. No training nor hoping it does not lose your mail. Can you point me to some plug-in (ideally free) that will allow me to investigate? I currently get about 250 messages a day of which anything upto 80% can be spam but plenty may be valid but previously unheard of. Using SpamBayes, I have not yet had a false positive -- although I have had a few "unsure[s]". Because they are moved to different folders, the unsure ones are highlighted to me. I also mark my Spam as read manually (allowing me to check them quickly). Regards, Ray
There are three that I know of, you will find the all listed at: www.GotTheAnswerToSpam.com[^] One provides a free trial month, but I like the one that is a plugin to Outlook which allows multple accounts. Someone sent me an email that another company had this available somewhere for free, but when told them that if they sent me the link I would post it on the site and never heard from them again. The site will list anyone that is providing solutions with this technology. It is there to spread the word. Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com
-
There are three that I know of, you will find the all listed at: www.GotTheAnswerToSpam.com[^] One provides a free trial month, but I like the one that is a plugin to Outlook which allows multple accounts. Someone sent me an email that another company had this available somewhere for free, but when told them that if they sent me the link I would post it on the site and never heard from them again. The site will list anyone that is providing solutions with this technology. It is there to spread the word. Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com
Hmmm, sounds ok, however the site has some contradition at the moment: Old email address that gets lots of SPAM, but you must keep it since someone in your past may try to reach you at that address. Yet all three solutions seem to give you new email addresses. The concept seems to be good. Perhaps I'll dust off my .NET skills and try to write an Outlook plug-in. I'd have to email the picture (I don't want to start running a web-server for this) and parse the response. Doesn't sound to complex actually. Regards, Ray
-
Hmmm, sounds ok, however the site has some contradition at the moment: Old email address that gets lots of SPAM, but you must keep it since someone in your past may try to reach you at that address. Yet all three solutions seem to give you new email addresses. The concept seems to be good. Perhaps I'll dust off my .NET skills and try to write an Outlook plug-in. I'd have to email the picture (I don't want to start running a web-server for this) and parse the response. Doesn't sound to complex actually. Regards, Ray
Ray Hayes wrote: Yet all three solutions seem to give you new email addresses. In addition to your own if you want them. You can still use your own email addresses. One of them is an Outlook plugin that actually works on all your email accounts you have configured. It is a VERY simply process, and I thought I was going to rid the world of spam until I found out that it is a patented technology and that even though others are using, there are legal battles going on in court. You could make you own, but their plugin is already live and has many more features. And you would not have to worry about legal battles... Software patents really a good idea.. NOT! ;) Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com
-
There are three that I know of, you will find the all listed at: www.GotTheAnswerToSpam.com[^] One provides a free trial month, but I like the one that is a plugin to Outlook which allows multple accounts. Someone sent me an email that another company had this available somewhere for free, but when told them that if they sent me the link I would post it on the site and never heard from them again. The site will list anyone that is providing solutions with this technology. It is there to spread the word. Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com
Hi Rocky That would be me... I have forgotten up until this point, but the link below is the URL for the spam solution I use at home. http://www.softwaredevelopment.net.au/pge_steven.htm[^] It's called STEVEN. I like it because my wife thinks I developed it and named it after myself... ;P It's free to use, though it does have a popup (1 second for every 50 spam, maximum of 60 seconds) that reminds you it would be a good deed to register (and pay some money) to the company. If you are a non-profit or other such entity, you can apply for a free license. Seems to work very well for me. I haven't seen any spam in my inbox for quite a while now. The ones that DO slip through are the ones where the sender has spoofed the email to look like it came from my own domain. "Those that say a task is impossible shouldn't interrupt the ones who are doing it." - Chinese Proverb
-
Hi Rocky That would be me... I have forgotten up until this point, but the link below is the URL for the spam solution I use at home. http://www.softwaredevelopment.net.au/pge_steven.htm[^] It's called STEVEN. I like it because my wife thinks I developed it and named it after myself... ;P It's free to use, though it does have a popup (1 second for every 50 spam, maximum of 60 seconds) that reminds you it would be a good deed to register (and pay some money) to the company. If you are a non-profit or other such entity, you can apply for a free license. Seems to work very well for me. I haven't seen any spam in my inbox for quite a while now. The ones that DO slip through are the ones where the sender has spoofed the email to look like it came from my own domain. "Those that say a task is impossible shouldn't interrupt the ones who are doing it." - Chinese Proverb
RabidKangaroo wrote: That would be me... Oh.. ;) Thanks for the link, I should get it listed on the site this weekend. The only problem I can see is that it would be easy to automate spam to get through them. It only sends out a message and then waits for a reply and then they can hose you with spam continually. There is not validation of the person on the other end being a human since an automated script can reply to a known email. I am sure it probably works well at the moment, but if enough people used it, the spammers could write a script and spam all users of the program. The other three methods that I know of, use a form of validation by encoding a special code in a graphic and having them type enter that code. That way they know it is a human. Much stronger spam blocker. But hey, anything that blocks spam without filtering is great in my books! Thanks Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com