At 8:22 -0800 2004-01-30, David Rieger wrote:
>The FTC today announced a PR campaign about open relays ...
>Associated with this program is a FTC web-site that is an excellent
>resource ...
Thanks, David, for pointing out this FTC campaign and the resource website!
Just for clarification, this campaign is also focused on open
proxies -- some of which can be used for making arbitrary TCP
connections, including SMTP connections for sending spam -- in
addition to open mail relays.
In fact, a number of reports have stated that open proxies now
facilitate the sending of far more spam than open relays. As one of
the documents on the FTC's site, "Securing Your Server: Shut the Door
on Spam"
<http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/secureyourserver.htm>,
points out:
>Today, spammers are more likely to use an *open proxy* server to
>send their spam [than an open relay].
In addition to this FTC document - which is focused on servers run
by businesses and other institutions - there are comparable resources
available to individual users who administer their own computers, to
help them understand the issue of open proxies and reconfigure their
proxy servers to prevent them from being used by spammers or other
unauthorized users.
One listing with links to many open proxy-related resources for
individual users is:
"Fixing Open Proxies"
http://spamlinks.net/proxy-fix.htm
Aron Roberts
Workstation Software Support Group
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Received on Fri Jan 30 10:12:54 2004
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