Comments on: A new wave of high brow “empty spam” http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/ Tips and add-ons to make Apple Mail / Mail.app even better Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:59:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: All Clear » Bombarded by Spam http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/comment-page-1/#comment-12007 All Clear » Bombarded by Spam Sun, 13 Aug 2006 20:06:56 +0000 http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/#comment-12007 [...] I woke up this morning to find about 18 emails in my Gmail Inbox that were spam. I had caught a blurb on Slashdot yesterday about a new wave of spam but didn’t think it would get to me. It did. The way it seems to be working is they paste a bunch of text from a novel of some sort and then attach an image with the spam message in it. [...] [...] I woke up this morning to find about 18 emails in my Gmail Inbox that were spam. I had caught a blurb on Slashdot yesterday about a new wave of spam but didn’t think it would get to me. It did. The way it seems to be working is they paste a bunch of text from a novel of some sort and then attach an image with the spam message in it. [...]

]]> By: planomug.com » Blog Archive » A new wave of high brow “empty spam” http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/comment-page-1/#comment-11841 planomug.com » Blog Archive » A new wave of high brow “empty spam” Sat, 12 Aug 2006 12:33:04 +0000 http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/#comment-11841 [...] Sometimes called “empty spam” because it contains no advertising pitch or offers or phishing attempts, this type….[Read the Rest] [...] [...] Sometimes called “empty spam” because it contains no advertising pitch or offers or phishing attempts, this type….[Read the Rest] [...]

]]> By: Elwing http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/comment-page-1/#comment-11608 Elwing Thu, 10 Aug 2006 13:11:42 +0000 http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/#comment-11608 Dave, Unfortunately, the "bounce" command won't have the desired affect. The spammers are looking for SMTP error messages during the SMTP connection, when they can get an actual response. Unfortunately, unless you run your own mail server, you don't have control over this. If your ISP uses Cyrus IMAP, ask them about Sieve - which is server side filtering that can handle some of this for you (depending on the configuration). If you're geting a specific type of spam, also ask your ISP about sending them the full message so that they can tweak their spam settings. Dave, Unfortunately, the “bounce” command won’t have the desired affect. The spammers are looking for SMTP error messages during the SMTP connection, when they can get an actual response. Unfortunately, unless you run your own mail server, you don’t have control over this. If your ISP uses Cyrus IMAP, ask them about Sieve – which is server side filtering that can handle some of this for you (depending on the configuration).

If you’re geting a specific type of spam, also ask your ISP about sending them the full message so that they can tweak their spam settings.

]]> By: Thomas http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/comment-page-1/#comment-11573 Thomas Thu, 10 Aug 2006 11:17:53 +0000 http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/#comment-11573 I've been getting a lot of this empty mail from my website contact form. The browser is usually set to something generic like 'Browser: Mozilla/4.0' so now I'm filtering them out. If you use any normal browser, it'll identify itself more than just 'Browser: Mozilla/4.0' I’ve been getting a lot of this empty mail from my website contact form. The browser is usually set to something generic like ‘Browser: Mozilla/4.0′ so now I’m filtering them out. If you use any normal browser, it’ll identify itself more than just ‘Browser: Mozilla/4.0′

]]> By: DAVE http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/comment-page-1/#comment-11505 DAVE Thu, 10 Aug 2006 04:15:00 +0000 http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/#comment-11505 mcloki, you can use Apple Mail's Bounce feature to manually bounce spam back to the sender- they will receive a message that your email address had "fatal errors" or something like that. if you do this you may get a "mail undeliverable" message back- spam usually has some spoofed email headers in it- but that's OK. Presumably the spammer will still get a copy of the error message. You should also leave "display remote HTML images" turned OFF by default in Mail Preferences. Lots of spam has images which automatically load from the spammers' servers when you open the email- this sends a signal back to their server that your email address is a "good one", and you go on their list. This means that Mail will display a Load Images button up in the right corner of every email with images, and you will have to click it to see the graphics on any legit email you want to see- but to my mind this is a minor inconvenience. I'm sure you've noticed, if you use the display pane in Mail, that you can't click on an email without displaying it's contents. But if you double- click on the bar that separates the list of emails from the display pane, this will close the display pane. You can then select any email without opening it- to bounce it, or whatever. Then just double-click again to reopen it. mcloki, you can use Apple Mail’s Bounce feature to manually bounce spam back to the sender- they will receive a message that your email address had “fatal errors” or something like that. if you do this you may get a “mail undeliverable” message back- spam usually has some spoofed email headers in it- but that’s OK. Presumably the spammer will still get a copy of the error message.

You should also leave “display remote HTML images” turned OFF by default in Mail Preferences. Lots of spam has images which automatically load from the spammers’ servers when you open the email- this sends a signal back to their server that your email address is a “good one”, and you go on their list.

This means that Mail will display a Load Images button up in the right corner of every email with images, and you will have to click it to see the graphics on any legit email you want to see- but to my mind this is a minor inconvenience.

I’m sure you’ve noticed, if you use the display pane in Mail, that you can’t click on an email without displaying it’s contents. But if you double- click on the bar that separates the list of emails from the display pane, this will close the display pane. You can then select any email without opening it- to bounce it, or whatever. Then just double-click again to reopen it.

]]> By: mcloki http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/comment-page-1/#comment-11503 mcloki Thu, 10 Aug 2006 03:27:06 +0000 http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/#comment-11503 If what Dave says is true. is there a way for mail to send a message to an image file e-mail address to fake the bounce back to effectively hide your e-mail address from these guys. Cause it's starting to get ridiculous. I wish I could charge everyone a nickel for sending me an e-mail. Even if the ISP just kept the cash to pay off my Internet bill I'd be happy. If what Dave says is true. is there a way for mail to send a message to an image file e-mail address to fake the bounce back to effectively hide your e-mail address from these guys. Cause it’s starting to get ridiculous.
I wish I could charge everyone a nickel for sending me an e-mail. Even if the ISP just kept the cash to pay off my Internet bill I’d be happy.

]]> By: DAVE http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/comment-page-1/#comment-11502 DAVE Thu, 10 Aug 2006 02:33:56 +0000 http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/#comment-11502 I believe I read recently that spammers are currently in the process of creating and/or updating massive databases of known-good email addresses to sell to other spammers. The idea is just to blanket everyone with these emails- the sole purpose is to see if a given email address gets bounced back by the server as unknown or bad- if it does not bounce back, they know it's a real email address and add it to the database... and sell your email address to yet another spammer. The ultimate result will be an exponential increase in spam. I believe I read recently that spammers are currently in the process of creating and/or updating massive databases of known-good email addresses to sell to other spammers. The idea is just to blanket everyone with these emails- the sole purpose is to see if a given email address gets bounced back by the server as unknown or bad- if it does not bounce back, they know it’s a real email address and add it to the database… and sell your email address to yet another spammer.

The ultimate result will be an exponential increase in spam.

]]> By: Paul Westbrook http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/comment-page-1/#comment-11491 Paul Westbrook Thu, 10 Aug 2006 01:24:46 +0000 http://www.hawkwings.net/2006/08/10/a-new-wave-of-high-brow-empty-spam/#comment-11491 I have definitely seen this type of spam. I have seen two forms of it. One where the whole body of the message is empty, and the other where it appears to be a personal note to me (but the message appears to be computer generated) I have definitely seen this type of spam. I have seen two forms of it. One where the whole body of the message is empty, and the other where it appears to be a personal note to me (but the message appears to be computer generated)

]]>