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Catching Spam by Looking at Traffic, Not Content
AngryDad writes "HexView has proposed a method to deal with spam without scanning actual message bodies. The method is based solely on traffic analysis. They call it STP (Source Trust Prediction). A server, like a Real-time Spam Black list, collects SMTP session source and destination addresses from participating Mail Transfer Agents (MTAs) and applies statistics to identify spam-like traffic patterns. A credibility score is returned to the MTA, so it can throttle down or drop possibly unwanted traffic. While I find it questionable, the method might be useful when combined with traditional keyword analysis." What do you think? Is this snake oil, or is there something to this?
As soon as you've found a way to get that message through effectively to 100% of the population, do let us know.
Where else would I get my Viagra from?
please put obligatory Standard Spam Form joke below here please
we've got to keep this place organized
Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
We could try mass mailing them. I've had some success with that in the past. =)
Your post advocates a
(x) technical ( ) legislative ( ) market-based ( ) vigilante
approach to fighting spam. Your idea will not work. Here is why it won't work. (One or more of the following may apply to your particular idea, and it may have other flaws which used to vary from state to state before a bad federal law was passed.)
( ) Spammers can easily use it to harvest email addresses
(x) Mailing lists and other legitimate email uses would be affected
( ) No one will be able to find the guy or collect the money
(x) It is defenseless against brute force attacks
(x) It will stop spam for two weeks and then we'll be stuck with it
( ) Users of email will not put up with it
( ) Microsoft will not put up with it
( ) The police will not put up with it
( ) Requires too much cooperation from spammers
( ) Requires immediate total cooperation from everybody at once
( ) Many email users cannot afford to lose business or alienate potential employers
( ) Spammers don't care about invalid addresses in their lists
( ) Anyone could anonymously destroy anyone else's career or business
Specifically, your plan fails to account for
( ) Laws expressly prohibiting it
( ) Lack of centrally controlling authority for email
( ) Open relays in foreign countries
( ) Ease of searching tiny alphanumeric address space of all email addresses
( ) Asshats
( ) Jurisdictional problems
( ) Unpopularity of weird new taxes
( ) Public reluctance to accept weird new forms of money
( ) Huge existing software investment in SMTP
( ) Susceptibility of protocols other than SMTP to attack
( ) Willingness of users to install OS patches received by email
( ) Armies of worm riddled broadband-connected Windows boxes
(x) Eternal arms race involved in all filtering approaches
( ) Extreme profitability of spam
( ) Joe jobs and/or identity theft
( ) Technically illiterate politicians
( ) Extreme stupidity on the part of people who do business with spammers
( ) Dishonesty on the part of spammers themselves
( ) Bandwidth costs that are unaffected by client filtering
( ) Outlook
and the following philosophical objections may also apply:
( ) Ideas similar to yours are easy to come up with, yet none have ever
been shown practical
( ) Any scheme based on opt-out is unacceptable
( ) SMTP headers should not be the subject of legislation
( ) Blacklists suck
( ) Whitelists suck
( ) We should be able to talk about Viagra without being censored
( ) Countermeasures should not involve wire fraud or credit card fraud
( ) Countermeasures should not involve sabotage of public networks
( ) Countermeasures must work if phased in gradually
( ) Sending email should be free
(x) Why should we have to trust you and your servers?
( ) Incompatiblity with open source or open source licenses
(x) Feel-good measures do nothing to solve the problem
( ) Temporary/one-time email addresses are cumbersome
( ) I don't want the government reading my email
( ) Killing them that way is not slow and painful enough
Furthermore, this is what I think about you:
(x) Sorry dude, but I don't think it would work.
( ) This is a stupid idea, and you're a stupid person for suggesting it.
( ) Nice try, assh0le! I'm going to find out where you live and burn your
house down!
SIR,
OUR TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT HAS COME UP WITH A GREAT OPPUTUNITY TO STOP ALL YOUR SPAM. THIS TECHNOLOGY IS CALLED source Trust Prediction (STP). IT WORKS BASED ON identifying patterns and trends in real time AND IN THIS WAY PREVENT SPAM. HOWEVER TO MAKE PROFIT FROM THIS NEW TECHNOLOGYY WE NEED TO DO A PATENT APPLICATION. YOUR NAME CAME FORWARD AS AN EXCELLENT INVESTOR FOR THIS. WITH THE CURRENT RISE OF SPAM THIS TECH WILL BE REQUIRED QUICKLY BY A LOT OF PEOPLE.
I am only contacting you as a foreigner, I will use my influence to
effect legal approvals and onward transfer into your account At the
conclusion of this business, you will be given 50% of the total
PROFITS, 50% will be for me and my family AFTER DEDUCTION OF THE PATENT COSTS
. I await to hear from you.
Yours truly,
Mr.Barry Leoard.
FNB OF SOUTH AFRICA
THIS
IS MY PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS, YOU CAN SEND YOUR REPLY HERE:-
barryleonard@walla.com
Thx in advance,
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Zombie Bread, a whole brain in every loaf!
It's blue! It's moldy! It's the The night of the living Bread.
Thanks for you misguided rant, quite amusing.
My ISP (and I mean mine, I'm a shareholder) doesn't give a flying fuck what I do with the bandwidth I paid for (and yes, I do pay). The fixed IP of my 2Mb ADSL suits my needs, and many of the needs of other business users we have as customers, extra QoS not required
Get off your high horse and suck it's cock.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter