dibbers
join:2003-09-19
 ·Time Warner VOIP
| Question about anti-spamming
This may be a dumb statement, but I'm curious.
I know a lot of malware installs bots on your computer, and those bots then can be remotely controlled to spam other people.
Is that correct?
If so, how does that work on people's computer who use web-based email? I mean, they're not using Outlook, POP3, SMTP, etc. So could those users just disable POP3/SMTP services on their PC and not be a spam zombie?
Does this make any sense what I'm saying?
Thanks!
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»myhax0r.net
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Psicop
More human than human
Premium
join:2005-12-21
| Very easy spammers have a "click on" detection system, which means that once you open their e-mail they know you are an active user hence you are on their spamming list.
A direct way is opening e-mail attachments.
I never click on e-mails of people I don't know of and when it comes to friends or relatives I delete the ones I know are used as part of social engineering tactics. Happened to me few times in the past but not anymore. |
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nwrickert
Premium,MVM
join:2004-09-04
Geneva, IL | reply to dibbers
Many of the viruses contain their own smtp engine. They don't depend on using POP3 etc.
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AT&T dsl; Westell 2200 modem/router; SuSE 10.1; firefox 2.0.0.4 |
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dibbers
join:2003-09-19
·Time Warner VOIP
| said by nwrickert  :Many of the viruses contain their own smtp engine. They don't depend on using POP3 etc. Ah, OK - so I guess you couldn't just completely disable the SMTP protocol for everything?
I mean, I don't know what the percentage is, but I'd guess a high percentage of folks used web based email now instead of POP3.
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»myhax0r.net
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nwrickert
Premium,MVM
join:2004-09-04
Geneva, IL
 ·AT&T Midwest
| Ah, OK - so I guess you couldn't just completely disable the SMTP protocol for everything? You could outbound port 25 connections in your firewall. Many ISPs are blocking port 25 connections to other than the ISP mail servers, as a way of reducing the impact of viruses.
Still, if infected, best is to clean out the malware. That's better than just blocking port 25.
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AT&T dsl; Westell 2200 modem/router; SuSE 10.1; firefox 2.0.0.4 |
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dibbers
join:2003-09-19
·Time Warner VOIP
| Thanks for the info.
I don't have any spyware on my PC, I was just asking in general as a way to *help* "cure spam", if everyone blocked SMTP on their PC (or however you'd do it), then spambots wouldn't work.
But I guess someone would have already figured out a way to do that if it would have done any good.
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»myhax0r.net
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nwrickert
Premium,MVM
join:2004-09-04
Geneva, IL | Unfortunately, there will always be naive computer users, who don't properly secure their computers.
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AT&T dsl; Westell 2200 modem/router; SuSE 10.1; firefox 2.0.0.4 |
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