Verizon.net Finally Moving Email To Port 587

The Washington Post's Security Fix blog is reporting that Verizon, long identified as the largest ISP source of spam, is moving to require use of the submission port, 587, in outbound mail — and thus to require authentication. While spammers may still be able to relay spam through zombies in Verizon's network, if the victims let their mail clients remember their authentication credentials, at least the zombies will be easily identifiable. Verizon pledges to clean up their zombie problem quickly. We'll see.

Comments

Finally, Verizon, Finally!!

[Smidge207]

I found out I was a spammer when I investigated a message returned to me. I ended up talking with someone from SORBS. After emailing SORBS a couple of times, I received this message from Michelle Sullivan: "SORBS lists IP addresses that send spam. Often there is real email mixed with the spam, sometimes deliberately, sometimes accidentally. In this case you are using an IP address to send your email that has previously, and is still, sending spam. The IP address is blocked. I'd contact your provider and complain bitterly about it, because it's the provider that is listed, not you specifically."

I send out a newsletter with about 250 subscribers. After talking with SORBS, I contacted Verizon and found out that, even though we signed up for Verizon Business, they limit the amount of email I can send a week to 500 messages. I rarely approach 200 messages and the newsletter is a monthly. Verizon told me I couldnâ(TM)t even send the newsletter in one blast; I had to limit it to 100 subscribers an hour! And in late Fall 2008, some providers, like MS, would reject my mail simply because it had @Verizon.net in the senderâ(TM)s address. I knew I wasn't sending out large amounts of email, let alone spam.

Within those imposed limits, Verizon still could not bring its huge entity to investigate my complaint. In late December, we switch to Constant Contact to email the newsletter. While my boss uses Cox since he works mostly from home, the office is still âoeconnectedâ with Verizon!

Boy, I hate Verizon! Now, maybe they will kill the Zombies from all those dead zones they claim not to have!

=smidge=

Verizon spam zombies

[benjfowler]

I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced...

Comcast

[TheNinjaroach]

Well your spam made it through, but the response must have been throttled since you didn't get first post. You're a Comcast customer, aren't you?

Re:Do zombies even use ISP mail servers?

[stevey]

Indeed.

But if you're the ISP you can just say "Hey customers outgoing port 25 is blocked - use authentication and port 587 to send mail".

In general I'm against ISP blocking services, but in the case of spam prevention its a good choice to make.

(The ideal would be to allow outgoing, but cut people off if they spam. That would punish only the guilty, but I guess they're not so keen on that).

great, only 7 years late

[Indy1]

Verizon has been an epic sewer network for years, and has ignored their spam problem for years. If they want to clean up now (or make a lame attempt to clean up, as most telco's do), fine. It just means less work for iptables at my end.

For those who are sick of Verizon's bullshit, here's my list (no promises this is complete, but it should have most of em) of Verizon's ip blocks.

  206.46.0.0/16
  66.12.0.0/14
  207.68.0.0/17
  71.96.0.0/11
  72.64.0.0/11
  72.42.0.0/18
  71.160.0.0/15
  71.162.0.0/16
  96.224.0.0/11
  98.108.0.0/14
  98.112.0.0/13
  68.160.0.0/14
  162.84.0.0/16
  162.83.0.0/16
  151.204.0.0/15
  138.88.0.0/21
  66.171.0.0/16
  66.14.128.0/17
  151.201.0.0/16
  138.89.0.0/16
  141.149.0.0/16
  141.150.0.0/15
  141.152.0.0/14
  141.156.0.0/15
  141.158.0.0/16
  68.160.192.0/18
  68.161.192.0/18
  66.14.0.0/17
  151.196.0.0/14
  151.200.0.0/14
  151.204.0.0/15
  129.44.0.0/16
  138.88.0.0/16
  64.222.0.0/15
  68.236.0.0/14
  70.104.0.0/13
  70.16.0.0/13
  71.96.0.0/11
  209.158.0.0/16
  209.159.0.0/19
  71.160.0.0/11
  173.64.0.0/12
  70.192.0.0/11
  66.174.0.0/16
  75.224.0.0/12
  75.240.0.0/13
  75.192.0.0/10
  97.0.0.0/10