Spam Fighting Guidelines Published
June 30, 2008 | by Christopher Nickson
The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group has published recommendations that could drastically cut the amount of spam e-mail.
How are these for figures – it’s estimated that over 90% of all e-mail sent is spam, and that 90% of all spam is distributed by botnets, those armies of zombie computers. There have been many attempts to fight that massive volume of spam, and now the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) has published several recommendations that, if adopted, could succeed in drastically reducing the spam. "These are very significant recommendations and they are coming from a well-respected body so there is not much excuse for not following them."
The first idea is that ISPs use separate servers for original and forwarded mail, according to the BBC, as forwarded mail often includes spam and viruses, and it will make identification easier.
Secondly, the MAAWG suggests blocking port 25, through which most spam travels. This isn’t new, and some American ISPs already do it, but its endorsement by an official body could see it more widely implemented.
It seems possible that these guidelines could be put into force before the end of the year, according to Richard Cox of anti-spam unit Spamhaus.
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Kevin on Jun 30th, 2008 at 1:53 PM:
And you think by changing port #s... this'll help? Yes, most mail servers primarily use this port, but do you really think spammers won't find a way to get your new port? Seems like a silly solution to me. Port scanning has been around for over a decade and this process has only increased in effectiveness. What they need to do is develop a better way of tracing spam mails to the source. Affected computers on botnets should be recognized and taken offline/patched/cleaned. Why isn't this being done now? People should become more aware of how to protect their computers from being hacked/rooted. Admins in the workplace should be doing their jobs... they should know how security works and they should stop using Microsoft servers... 'nuff said.