RE: Authentication and email

["Dean Willis" <dwillis@dynamicsoft.com>]

Harald asked:
> checking:
> 
> were those SPAM mails, or were those VIRUS mails?
> we know that this has been a problem with virii, but so far, 
> I haven't seen 
> spammers using this deliberately.
> 

I didn't look at the message. Here's the notification I got from mailman. It
LOOKS like spam, based on contect and subject.

--------------------
As list administrator, your authorization is requested for the following
mailing list posting:

    List:    Sip@ietf.org
    From:    camarillo@ericsson.com
    Subject: Eager to see you
    Reason:  Post by non-member to a members-only list

At your convenience, visit:

    https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/admindb/sip
        
to approve or deny the request.
---------------------

Incidentally, I am running a vanilla Spam Assassin configuration on my
inbox. I get about three false positives a week on legitimate SIP, SIPPING,
or sip-implementors posts, usually from real people using email relays on a
black-hole list. I'm filtering off around 300 spams a day, which is about
50% of my mail volume. 

Spammers are getting smarter, and I don't believe that heuristic detection
mechanisms are going to hold up much longer. I KNOW how to break the current
defense mechanisms we use, and that means its only a matter of time before
the spamettes figure it out too.

--
Dean