On Thu, 2005-06-09 at 15:59 +1200, Jeremy Bowen wrote: > On Thursday 09 June 2005 3:34 pm, Adam Goryachev wrote: > > On Thu, 2005-06-09 at 14:58 +1200, Jeremy Bowen wrote: > > > I know Exchange does this but I wasn't aware that the default qmail > > > installation bounced messages. I thought the default behaviour was to > > > accept messages and then direct unknown addresses to a default alias. I > > > wasn't aware that the accepted messages were subsequently bounced :-( > > > > Yes, qmail will always accept the email (if the destination domain is > > local, or we are a secondary MX, or we have been told to relay on behalf > > of this user. > > I have no problem that qmail will *accept* the messages but I'm not happy > that > it *bounces* them AFTER they've been accepted. (I'm still not sure that it > does this by default.)
well, any MTA which follows the RFC (ie, any proper MTA, which might exclude some crappy ones - no names) is *required* to send a bounce if it isn't able to successfully deliver the message. Many people have patched qmail-scanner such that is *will* discard emails detected as spam/virus, however, this means you are not following the RFC. However, usually this 'back-scatter' is due to the original recipients system not running any spam filter/virus filter, and as such, they do follow the RFC completely, and dutifully send you your bounce message. > > > I know who is to blame for that; Mail-admins who bounce messages they > > > should never have accepted in the first place. > > > > Well, not exactly... they obviously didn't realise that they shouldn't > > accept the email in the first place... > > Ignorance isn't much of a defence for bad behaviour is it? > Spammers are bad but I can handle them with various tools. > Back-scatter is impossible to handle. > > > In my understanding, these 'back-scatter' problems are generally caused > > by someone's mail server acting as an relay (open relay) when they > > shouldn't, or some network/server admin not dis-connecting a naughty > > client when they should have. > > No you are thinking about something else. > > From http://www.postfix.org/BACKSCATTER_README.html > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- > What is backscatter mail? > > When a spammer or worm sends mail with forged sender addresses, innocent > sites are flooded with undeliverable mail notifications. This is called > backscatter mail, and if your system is flooded then you will find out soon > enough. > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ooops, you are right :) I still think I am right too though... in most cases of "When a spammer or worm sends mail" is is via an open relay..... mere semantics really... :) In any case, what you are really saying is that you want to require ALL mail servers on the internet to run spam/virus filtering software... How is that for some new DNS bl ?? If you run some filtering software, you are listed, if the sending server/IP isn't listed, then you can increase the spam score or something... Regards, Adam ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: NEC IT Guy Games. How far can you shotput a projector? How fast can you ride your desk chair down the office luge track? If you want to score the big prize, get to know the little guy. Play to win an NEC 61" plasma display: http://www.necitguy.com/?r=20 _______________________________________________ Qmail-scanner-general mailing list Qmail-scanner-general@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/qmail-scanner-general
