Guest t-4-2 Posted February 12, 2009 Posted February 12, 2009 Not sure where to post this question. WLM 14v. My alumni group website received an anonymous letter with invalid (fake ) address. This alumni group site is Membership Only. Members must provide valid e-mail addresses and nobody is to send messages to the group without membership and valid acknowledged address. So, my question is, how did this happen ? How did the message get through, and how did the sender use faked address and still be able to send the message out ? We want to stop this. Please advise. Thank you. P.S. The anonymous message is NOT malicious. It contains concern of group's policy and requests changes. It is obviously sent by a current member. But still ........ did we get hacked ? t-4-2 Quote
Guest Sam Hobbs Posted February 12, 2009 Posted February 12, 2009 I don't understand. If it was sent by a current member then what is the problem? Perhaps you did answer that question already, but if you could clarify that, then it might help to have that clarified. "t-4-2" <dhuang1@cogeco.ca> wrote in message news:OdQcZoTjJHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > It is obviously sent by a current member. But still ........ did we get > hacked ?</span> Quote
Guest t-4-2 Posted February 12, 2009 Posted February 12, 2009 We assume the letter was sent by a current member, because the content of the message is not malicious. It is the manner the letter was sent in question. 1. No name 2. Fake address That comes back to my original question : How did the letter got sent AND arrived to our group site. We do not want this to happen again. I had experimented sending a message to the group via invalid address. Did not get sent. t-4-2 "Sam Hobbs" <Gateremovethis@SamHobbs.org> wrote in message news:7C8D6A37-BB69-47A9-9972-8BF400A739AE@microsoft.com...<span style="color:blue"> > I don't understand. If it was sent by a current member then what is the > problem? > > Perhaps you did answer that question already, but if you could clarify > that, then it might help to have that clarified. > > > "t-4-2" <dhuang1@cogeco.ca> wrote in message > news:OdQcZoTjJHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:green"> >> It is obviously sent by a current member. But still ........ did we get >> hacked ?</span> > </span> Quote
Guest Malke Posted February 12, 2009 Posted February 12, 2009 t-4-2 wrote: <span style="color:blue"> > We assume the letter was sent by a current member, because the content of > the message is not malicious. It is the manner the letter was sent in > question. > 1. No name > 2. Fake address > That comes back to my original question : How did the letter got sent AND > arrived to our group site. We do not want this to happen again. I had > experimented sending a message to the group via invalid address. Did not > get sent.</span> Probably one of your members has an infected computer. It is common for certain malware to send emails to all the email addresses in the infected computer's addressbook. It is also common to have spoofed or fake return addresses in these cases. There's nothing you can do about it so move on. Malke -- MS-MVP Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic! http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ Quote
Guest RalfG Posted February 12, 2009 Posted February 12, 2009 Indeed. Even without being infected I some time ago started receiving spam emails on a particular server that have my own email address from that mail server being spoofed as the sender address. Tough or impossible to filter. That address happens to be the only email address I use for public purposes and consequently 99.95% of the emails I get on that server are spam, phishing attempts or other malware infected crap. Even after emails are filtered on the mail server. OP can try looking at the Properties of the emails in question ->Details-> Message Source, and see if the email routing information matches up with that of any of the current members. It's tedious to compare this against all the current members but it might be a way to find whose computer is infected, if any. Could also point to the group server itself having a leak if the email source is outside the circle of group members. The same email might be spammed to multiple groups in that case. "Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:eb%23OooVjJHA.1248@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > t-4-2 wrote: ><span style="color:green"> >> We assume the letter was sent by a current member, because the content of >> the message is not malicious. It is the manner the letter was sent in >> question. >> 1. No name >> 2. Fake address >> That comes back to my original question : How did the letter got sent AND >> arrived to our group site. We do not want this to happen again. I had >> experimented sending a message to the group via invalid address. Did not >> get sent.</span> > > Probably one of your members has an infected computer. It is common for > certain malware to send emails to all the email addresses in the infected > computer's addressbook. It is also common to have spoofed or fake return > addresses in these cases. > > There's nothing you can do about it so move on. > > Malke > -- > MS-MVP > Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic! > http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ > </span> Quote
Guest peter Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 Malke somehow I don't think this is an infection...the sender asked/was concerned about specific things related to the club "It contains concern of group's policy and requests changes. " ??????? peter -- If you find a posting or message from me offensive,inappropriate or disruptive,please ignore it. If you dont know how to ignore a posting complain to me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate :-) "Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:eb#OooVjJHA.1248@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > t-4-2 wrote: > > > Probably one of your members has an infected computer. It is common for > certain malware to send emails to all the email addresses in the infected > computer's addressbook. It is also common to have spoofed or fake return > addresses in these cases. > > There's nothing you can do about it so move on. > > Malke > -- > MS-MVP > Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic! > http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ > </span> Quote
Guest t-4-2 Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 Someone actually read my original post ! t-4-2 "peter" <peter@nowhere.net> wrote in message news:#al#cZXjJHA.4276@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > Malke > somehow I don't think this is an infection...the sender asked/was > concerned about specific > things related to the club > "It contains concern of group's policy and requests changes. " > ??????? > > peter > > -- > If you find a posting or message from me offensive,inappropriate > or disruptive,please ignore it. > If you dont know how to ignore a posting complain > to me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate :-) > > "Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message > news:eb#OooVjJHA.1248@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<span style="color:green"> >> t-4-2 wrote: >> >> >> Probably one of your members has an infected computer. It is common for >> certain malware to send emails to all the email addresses in the infected >> computer's addressbook. It is also common to have spoofed or fake return >> addresses in these cases. >> >> There's nothing you can do about it so move on. >> >> Malke >> -- >> MS-MVP >> Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic! >> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ >> </span></span> Quote
Guest FromTheRafters Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 "t-4-2" <dhuang1@cogeco.ca> wrote in message news:OdQcZoTjJHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > Not sure where to post this question. > WLM 14v. > My alumni group website received an anonymous letter with invalid (fake ) > address. > This alumni group site is Membership Only. Members must provide valid > e-mail addresses and nobody is to send messages to the group without > membership and valid acknowledged address. > So, my question is, how did this happen ? How did the message get through, > and how did the sender use faked address and still be able to send the > message out ? We want to stop this. Please advise. Thank you. > P.S. The anonymous message is NOT malicious. It contains concern of > group's policy and requests changes. It is obviously sent by a current > member. But still ........ did we get hacked ? > t-4-2</span> It seems to me that the software at the website that is supposed to filter out e-mail that doesn't comply with having acknowledged addresses is broken - or that the perpetrator has access to the acknowledged and accepted e-mail to edit it with a fake address after it has arrived. Who has the keys to the kingdom? Quote
Guest t-4-2 Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 The " keeper " is a classmate with her husband as technical support. None of them could it figure out. t-4-2 "FromTheRafters" <erratic@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in message news:OVkh8IYjJHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > "t-4-2" <dhuang1@cogeco.ca> wrote in message > news:OdQcZoTjJHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:green"> >> Not sure where to post this question. >> WLM 14v. >> My alumni group website received an anonymous letter with invalid (fake ) >> address. >> This alumni group site is Membership Only. Members must provide valid >> e-mail addresses and nobody is to send messages to the group without >> membership and valid acknowledged address. >> So, my question is, how did this happen ? How did the message get >> through, and how did the sender use faked address and still be able to >> send the message out ? We want to stop this. Please advise. Thank you. >> P.S. The anonymous message is NOT malicious. It contains concern of >> group's policy and requests changes. It is obviously sent by a current >> member. But still ........ did we get hacked ? >> t-4-2</span> > > It seems to me that the software at the website that is supposed > to filter out e-mail that doesn't comply with having acknowledged > addresses is broken - or that the perpetrator has access to the > acknowledged and accepted e-mail to edit it with a fake address > after it has arrived. > > Who has the keys to the kingdom? > </span> Quote
Guest FromTheRafters Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 Check into what vulnerabilities are reported for the software running on the website. Sometimes an attacker can write script into a webform and the software interprets it - or script can be bounced off a client. "t-4-2" <dhuang1@cogeco.ca> wrote in message news:utA3jNYjJHA.1408@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > The " keeper " is a classmate with her husband as technical support. None > of them could it figure out. > t-4-2 > > "FromTheRafters" <erratic@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in message > news:OVkh8IYjJHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:green"> >> "t-4-2" <dhuang1@cogeco.ca> wrote in message >> news:OdQcZoTjJHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:darkred"> >>> Not sure where to post this question. >>> WLM 14v. >>> My alumni group website received an anonymous letter with invalid >>> (fake ) address. >>> This alumni group site is Membership Only. Members must provide valid >>> e-mail addresses and nobody is to send messages to the group without >>> membership and valid acknowledged address. >>> So, my question is, how did this happen ? How did the message get >>> through, and how did the sender use faked address and still be able to >>> send the message out ? We want to stop this. Please advise. Thank you. >>> P.S. The anonymous message is NOT malicious. It contains concern of >>> group's policy and requests changes. It is obviously sent by a current >>> member. But still ........ did we get hacked ? >>> t-4-2</span> >> >> It seems to me that the software at the website that is supposed >> to filter out e-mail that doesn't comply with having acknowledged >> addresses is broken - or that the perpetrator has access to the >> acknowledged and accepted e-mail to edit it with a fake address >> after it has arrived. >> >> Who has the keys to the kingdom? >> </span></span> Quote
Guest Malke Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 peter wrote: <span style="color:blue"> > Malke > somehow I don't think this is an infection...the sender asked/was > concerned about specific > things related to the club > "It contains concern of group's policy and requests changes. "</span> If there is an infection, it is not on the OP's machine and probably not on the mail server. If the body of the email wasn't one that had already been received (not unusual for the text to have been copied by the malware from an email sent on the possibly infected machine), then perhaps one of the members is playing silly games. Basically, there is no way to really know what is going on without being hands-on. Despite this having been posted in a Vista security newsgroup, we don't even know what OS the mailing list "server" is running or what mailing list software is being used. For all we know the mailing list "server" could be running Windows ME with some old mailing list software. The OP is not technically inclined nor apparently is the person who is taking care of the mailing list. If the members of the OP's list are really concerned they should get a competent local tech who understands about mail servers and malware to take a look. Malke -- MS-MVP Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic! http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ Quote
Guest t-4-2 Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 Quote "..... then perhaps one of the members is playing silly games.' Yes, we, the " keeper " of the group site and I ,concluded that. The question remains ......How. That's what we want to know. t-4-2 "Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:uc#NZxdjJHA.4132@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > peter wrote: ><span style="color:green"> >> Malke >> somehow I don't think this is an infection...the sender asked/was >> concerned about specific >> things related to the club >> "It contains concern of group's policy and requests changes. "</span> > > If there is an infection, it is not on the OP's machine and probably not > on > the mail server. If the body of the email wasn't one that had already been > received (not unusual for the text to have been copied by the malware from > an email sent on the possibly infected machine), then perhaps one of the > members is playing silly games. > > Basically, there is no way to really know what is going on without being > hands-on. Despite this having been posted in a Vista security newsgroup, > we > don't even know what OS the mailing list "server" is running or what > mailing list software is being used. For all we know the mailing list > "server" could be running Windows ME with some old mailing list software. > > The OP is not technically inclined nor apparently is the person who is > taking care of the mailing list. If the members of the OP's list are > really > concerned they should get a competent local tech who understands about > mail > servers and malware to take a look. > > Malke > -- > MS-MVP > Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic! > http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ > </span> Quote
Guest Paul Adare Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 On Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:53:13 -0500, t-4-2 wrote: <span style="color:blue"> > Quote "..... then perhaps one of the members is playing silly games.' > > Yes, we, the " keeper " of the group site and I ,concluded that. The > question remains ......How. > That's what we want to know.</span> No one in this thread has a clue as to what "site" you're talking about. If you're depending on features of that "site" to provide security, no one is going to be able to answer your question unless they know something about the site in question. -- Paul Adare MVP - Identity Lifecycle Manager http://www.identit.ca Quote
Guest Malke Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 t-4-2 wrote: <span style="color:blue"> > Quote "..... then perhaps one of the members is playing silly games.' > > Yes, we, the " keeper " of the group site and I ,concluded that. The > question remains ......How. > That's what we want to know.</span> Then get a professional in to look at the mail server as I already suggested. No one here can answer your question since none of us can examine the machine. Malke -- MS-MVP Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic! http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ Quote
Guest Sam Hobbs Posted February 15, 2009 Posted February 15, 2009 You can post a question in an email newsgroup; a group familiar with the email software you are using. "t-4-2" <dhuang1@cogeco.ca> wrote in message news:%239Q5wMfjJHA.5732@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > Quote "..... then perhaps one of the members is playing silly games.' > > Yes, we, the " keeper " of the group site and I ,concluded that. The > question remains ......How. > That's what we want to know. > t-4-2</span> Quote
Guest tweakvista Posted February 15, 2009 Posted February 15, 2009 You do know it's very easy to spoof email addresses? I can easily send an email to the police saying im a terrorist but with your email ? -- tweakvista Quote
Guest FromTheRafters Posted February 15, 2009 Posted February 15, 2009 "tweakvista" <guest@unknown-email.com> wrote in message news:8715951e12b58cf1899ba189f76ebeb9@nntp-gateway.com...<span style="color:blue"> > > You do know it's very easy to spoof email addresses?</span> That's not the point. <span style="color:blue"> > I can easily send > an email to the police saying im a terrorist but with your > email ?</span> That's not the point either. If you have software that is supposed to be able to determine that an e-mail address is real and block all others, and e-mail with fake addresses still get through (or otherwise appear where they should have been prohibited from appearing), then something is broken. Either the filtering software is broken or the destination (where the e-mail appears) is accessible for editing by unauthorized persons. Quote
Guest Sam Hobbs Posted February 16, 2009 Posted February 16, 2009 "FromTheRafters" <erratic@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in message news:%23CSrnE5jJHA.504@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > > "tweakvista" <guest@unknown-email.com> wrote in message > news:8715951e12b58cf1899ba189f76ebeb9@nntp-gateway.com...<span style="color:green"> >> >> You do know it's very easy to spoof email addresses?</span> > > That's not the point. ><span style="color:green"> >> I can easily send >> an email to the police saying im a terrorist but with your email ?</span> > > That's not the point either. > > If you have software that is supposed to be able to determine that an > e-mail address is real and block all others, and e-mail with fake > addresses still get through (or otherwise appear where they should have > been prohibited from appearing), then something is broken. Either the > filtering software is broken or the destination (where the e-mail appears) > is accessible for editing by unauthorized persons.</span> If it is that easy to separate the good from the bad, then why is is so difficult to separate the desired messages from the spam? Quote
Guest FromTheRafters Posted February 16, 2009 Posted February 16, 2009 "Sam Hobbs" <Gateremovethis@SamHobbs.org> wrote in message news:2DDEB277-EBC3-41D7-9192-7AA2616927F7@microsoft.com...<span style="color:blue"> > "FromTheRafters" <erratic@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in > message news:%23CSrnE5jJHA.504@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:green"> >> >> "tweakvista" <guest@unknown-email.com> wrote in message >> news:8715951e12b58cf1899ba189f76ebeb9@nntp-gateway.com...<span style="color:darkred"> >>> >>> You do know it's very easy to spoof email addresses?</span> >> >> That's not the point. >><span style="color:darkred"> >>> I can easily send >>> an email to the police saying im a terrorist but with >>> your email ?</span> >> >> That's not the point either. >> >> If you have software that is supposed to be able to >> determine that an e-mail address is real and block all >> others, and e-mail with fake addresses still get >> through (or otherwise appear where they should have been >> prohibited from appearing), then something is broken. >> Either the filtering software is broken or the >> destination (where the e-mail appears) is accessible for >> editing by unauthorized persons.</span> > > If it is that easy to separate the good from the bad, then > why is is so difficult to separate the desired messages > from the spam?</span> Spam often uses real e-mail addresses - not the correct ones, but real nonetheless. Quote
Guest Charlie Tame Posted February 17, 2009 Posted February 17, 2009 t-4-2 wrote:<span style="color:blue"> > The " keeper " is a classmate with her husband as technical support. > None of them could it figure out. > t-4-2 > > "FromTheRafters" <erratic@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in message > news:OVkh8IYjJHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:green"> >> "t-4-2" <dhuang1@cogeco.ca> wrote in message >> news:OdQcZoTjJHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:darkred"> >>> Not sure where to post this question. >>> WLM 14v. >>> My alumni group website received an anonymous letter with invalid >>> (fake ) address. >>> This alumni group site is Membership Only. Members must provide valid >>> e-mail addresses and nobody is to send messages to the group without >>> membership and valid acknowledged address. >>> So, my question is, how did this happen ? How did the message get >>> through, and how did the sender use faked address and still be able >>> to send the message out ? We want to stop this. Please advise. Thank >>> you. >>> P.S. The anonymous message is NOT malicious. It contains concern of >>> group's policy and requests changes. It is obviously sent by a >>> current member. But still ........ did we get hacked ? >>> t-4-2</span> >> >> It seems to me that the software at the website that is supposed >> to filter out e-mail that doesn't comply with having acknowledged >> addresses is broken - or that the perpetrator has access to the >> acknowledged and accepted e-mail to edit it with a fake address >> after it has arrived. >> >> Who has the keys to the kingdom? >></span></span> Most mail clients allow a person to use a "Reply to" address. Most of them use this if you supply it, if you do not then they use the "Real" email address you used to set up the account. For example I could have ctame@tames.net for one account and charlie@tames.net for another but in the first I use charlie@tames.net as the "Reply to" address thus no matter which I am using to "Send" with, the replies when people click on "Reply" will come to the same address, charlie@tames.net. (Both of those are "Fake" by the way because posting an email address in a newsgroup like this will get you 1000 spam emails a day style_emoticons/ So it is perfectly possible that the person has a fake address for good reason and accidentally posted to the group using it, the address your server saw may have been his / her real one, although you would normally "See" the fake reply to address listed in the post. But, you also asked how he / she was able to send the post. Well, his / her sending server probably doesn't care, in fact it's your receiving server that has to care, and generally there would be a list of acceptable senders usually called a "White List". Even if there IS a white list it can still fall victim to "Fake" addressing, but that's not something you can ever totally prevent. I think you may be worrying about something that is not terribly important, especially as the post was not malicious. Quote
Guest Charlie Tame Posted February 17, 2009 Posted February 17, 2009 Charlie Tame wrote:<span style="color:blue"> > t-4-2 wrote:<span style="color:green"> >> The " keeper " is a classmate with her husband as technical support. >> None of them could it figure out. >> t-4-2 >> >> "FromTheRafters" <erratic@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in message >> news:OVkh8IYjJHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:darkred"> >>> "t-4-2" <dhuang1@cogeco.ca> wrote in message >>> news:OdQcZoTjJHA.3716@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... >>>> Not sure where to post this question. >>>> WLM 14v. >>>> My alumni group website received an anonymous letter with invalid >>>> (fake ) address. >>>> This alumni group site is Membership Only. Members must provide >>>> valid e-mail addresses and nobody is to send messages to the group >>>> without membership and valid acknowledged address. >>>> So, my question is, how did this happen ? How did the message get >>>> through, and how did the sender use faked address and still be able >>>> to send the message out ? We want to stop this. Please advise. Thank >>>> you. >>>> P.S. The anonymous message is NOT malicious. It contains concern of >>>> group's policy and requests changes. It is obviously sent by a >>>> current member. But still ........ did we get hacked ? >>>> t-4-2 >>> >>> It seems to me that the software at the website that is supposed >>> to filter out e-mail that doesn't comply with having acknowledged >>> addresses is broken - or that the perpetrator has access to the >>> acknowledged and accepted e-mail to edit it with a fake address >>> after it has arrived. >>> >>> Who has the keys to the kingdom? >>></span></span> > > > Most mail clients allow a person to use a "Reply to" address. Most of > them use this if you supply it, if you do not then they use the "Real" > email address you used to set up the account. For example I could have > ctame@tames.net for one account and charlie@tames.net for another but in > the first I use charlie@tames.net as the "Reply to" address thus no > matter which I am using to "Send" with, the replies when people click on > "Reply" will come to the same address, charlie@tames.net. > > (Both of those are "Fake" by the way because posting an email address in > a newsgroup like this will get you 1000 spam emails a day style_emoticons/ > > So it is perfectly possible that the person has a fake address for good > reason and accidentally posted to the group using it, the address your > server saw may have been his / her real one, although you would normally > "See" the fake reply to address listed in the post. > > But, you also asked how he / she was able to send the post. Well, his / > her sending server probably doesn't care, in fact it's your receiving > server that has to care, and generally there would be a list of > acceptable senders usually called a "White List". Even if there IS a > white list it can still fall victim to "Fake" addressing, but that's not > something you can ever totally prevent. > > I think you may be worrying about something that is not terribly > important, especially as the post was not malicious. > > </span> Quote
Guest Sam Hobbs Posted February 17, 2009 Posted February 17, 2009 "FromTheRafters" <erratic@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in message news:OM6JFLIkJHA.1288@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > > Spam often uses real e-mail addresses - not the correct ones, but real > nonetheless.</span> More often they don't. Most often it is not possible to find an email address in the message that identifies who sent the message. If it were that easy, spam sent by that person would be eliminated. Only an amateur spammer would send spam with a real e-mail address anywhere in the message, except for using someone else's address in which case it is worse than none at all. If real e-mail address means someone else's email address, then in the context of my message, it is irrelevant whether the e-mail address is real . I said "separate the good from the bad", and when someone else's email address is used, a real e-mail address is either not useful or results in an invalid diagnosis. The invalid diagnosis is exactly why they use real e-mail addresses. Quote
Guest FromTheRafters Posted February 17, 2009 Posted February 17, 2009 "Sam Hobbs" <Gateremovethis@SamHobbs.org> wrote in message news:u5qTbtOkJHA.4912@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > "FromTheRafters" <erratic@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in > message news:OM6JFLIkJHA.1288@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...<span style="color:green"> >> >> Spam often uses real e-mail addresses - not the >> correct ones, but real nonetheless.</span> > > More often they don't. Most often it is not possible to > find an email address in the message that identifies who > sent the message.</span> Still not the point. Even if the e-mail address does not identify who actually sent the message - it can still be a real e-mail address. <span style="color:blue"> > If it were that easy, spam sent by that person would be > eliminated. Only an amateur spammer would send spam with a > real e-mail address anywhere in the message, except for > using someone else's address in which case it is worse > than none at all.</span> But it is real and can be verified as real . <span style="color:blue"> > If real e-mail address means someone else's email > address, then in the context of my message, it is > irrelevant whether the e-mail address is real .</span> Sorry, I substituted real for the OP's valid . There is a difference between my real address and any real address. If his software is supposed to check the validity of e-mail addresses before allowing e-mail to be posted, that doesn't necessarily mean it checks that it is the real address of a member. If that is the function, then it is even more broken than I imagined. <span style="color:blue"> > I said "separate the good from the bad", and when someone > else's email address is used, a real e-mail address is > either not useful or results in an invalid diagnosis. The > invalid diagnosis is exactly why they use real e-mail > addresses.</span> Yes, if all it took to filter out spam was to check the validity of e-mail addresses (and all spam used invalid addresses) it would be a snap. That is not the case, and the OP was not talking about spam filtering. He evidently wants accountability for members' posted e-mails. Anyway, either the filtering doesn't work, or the e-mail's valid address is edited out after being posted. Quote
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