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| 2003-12-30 |
We need authentication on e-mail senders... |
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This is something on which I have been pondering for quite a while now:
My company has been the victim of many spam campaigns. And I do not mean as the target or relay of spam, but many spam emails have been sent using our domain as the fake mail sender.
Fortunately I do not get angry mails from people saying that they do not want their penis enlarged and certainly do not need any Viagra (herbal or not). This goes to show that people understand what is going on here and they do not hold the fake sender responsible for the e-mail.
I do however get all the non-delivery reports (spam blocks, out of office replies, user does not exist, mailbox full; that sort of stuff...).
This is a major nuisance! I shiver at the thought how much of these garbage mails the postmasters of AOL and HotMail must get!!!
Which leads me to believe that this issue must be solved. My current thinking is that each mail should contain an X-Authentication signature containing an automatic digital signature over the mail. This header can be set by either the MUA or the first MTA (which is usually an ISP or company SMTP server). The public key of the sender should be stored in the DNS so that a receiving MTA can retrieve the public key through existing infrastructure and verify whether the sender actually generated the e-mail or not.
This signature is not meant to provide a 100% guarantee about the sender and its intention, but can help in blocking fake e-mails more effectively...
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posted at 10:47:44
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| 2003-12-28 |
Spam driving me crazy! |
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We at osp.nl get our fair share of spam. But, no worries, I have installed SpamAssassin and thus most of the offending emails are categorized as such and then sent to special /dev/null mail boxes.
However, there is something else that drives me crazy! There are spammers out there using osp.nl as their fake sender domains. And because of this I (postmaster@osp.nl) get the Non-Delivery Reports !
Sigh.... |
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posted at 17:24:32
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| 2003-12-21 |
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Dutch language entry
... Security is een beetje zoals die narrige oude oom die je op
ieder familiefeestje weer tegenkomt. Hij hoort erbij, en iedereen
nodigt hem om die reden telkens weer uit, maar niemand wordt echt
vrolijk van hem. Hij verpest ieder feestje met narrige opmerkingen en
het is zelden of nooit goed. Het maakt niet uit met welk plan je komt,
hij weet altijd wel tegenwerpingen te verzinnen waarom het toch weer
allemaal niks is en al helemaal niks zal worden.
Artikel... |
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posted at 10:07:12
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The return of the king... |
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Yesterday I went to see "The Return of the King". And I must say, a magnificent movie, in line of the first two, with an epicity (high on the scale of epos) only matched by "Star Wars" (parts 4-6). It will be many, many years before someone will dare try retell the story of the Lord of the Rings ... |
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posted at 09:34:08
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| 2003-12-18 |
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A collegue pointed me to
this page, which contains a comparison between the performance of Samba version 3 and Windows 2003. According to this graph:
Samba beats the shit out of Windows 2003.
However, somewhere on the page it says this:
"We did not tune any of the software to improve performance."
And therefore, THIS TEST SUCKS!
I strongly believe in the potential of Linux and other open source software, but this comparison is useless. It only compares the default settings of both products and operating systems. In order to stage an effective test one should take two identically configured machines and have two crack teams from both camps tune the software to death. Only then can you make a comparison which actually means something... |
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posted at 08:49:20
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| 2003-12-17 |
Another Boris Dittrich hot air balloon... |
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Dutch MP Boris Dittrich just floated another hot air balloon. According to Boris the Queen should no longer read the government's speech at the opening of the parliamentary year. Instead, (according to Boris) the Prime Minister should read the speech because "he writes the speech, and not the Queen"...
Sigh....
(It's no wonder D66 (Boris' political party) has been diminished to something like six seats in the lower house...)
Dear Boris: IT DOES NOT MATTER!!!!!
It is not important. It is a matter of protocol. Everybody knows that the Queen does not write the speech, but she is still the Head of Government. If we would be a republic again (I am a stout republican, but that is beside the point now) the President would read out the speech.
And do you really think JP the MP (Jan-Peter Balkenende is the current PM of out Kingdom) writes the speech himself? Come on! It is a joint effort! Before you know it we have the entire cabinet singing the speech a capella! Or maybe put up a nice blonde secretary of the Ministery of General Affairs (the PM's ministery) read the speech on nationwide TV (because she typed it out)! |
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posted at 14:09:20
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Zinloos Høken... |
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Dutch language entry
In het kader van zinloze opmerkingen hoorde ik net op de radio dat "høken" plezier maken is "zonder geweld". Dus, in de woorden van de verslaggeefster "zinloos høken is niet mogelijk...."
Radio 3 op zijn best... |
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posted at 13:55:28
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New from Muppet Labs: The Orgynizer |
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The must-have for every tired CEO or yup: the Orgynizer: an organizer that can be used to schedule your orgies!
All orgynizers are connected to one another through state-of-the-art wireless Internet technology so that you can be sure that you never miss an orgy somewhere.
Schedule orgies with friends, relatives or complete strangers! Be informed instantly if there is an orgy going on in your vicinity!!!
The Muppet Labs Orgynizer: Never have sex without it! |
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posted at 11:36:48
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| 2003-12-16 |
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A very funny report about someone interviewing for a job at the NSA |
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posted at 11:18:40
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Christmas balls |
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I am recovering from my vasectomy... I'll spare you the pictures because it is not a pretty sight. That is what you get for committment (to yourself). Fortunately all the vital functions are still OK.... |
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posted at 10:31:44
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This weblog is best ignored...
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