Re: Loads of spam showing "Delviery Status Notification", "Failure Notice" etc.

"Chris Wright" wrote:

> How difficult is it for a mail server to determine if the header is
> forged and not reply with a 'Delivery Failure' message.

I don't know, but they should have spam defences in place and should
not late-bounce what they detect as spam.

Spamcop has something on misdirected bounces here:
http://www.spamcop.net/fom-serve/cache/329.html

There are ways to detect spam other than examining the headers or body
such as using carefully selected DNSBls (blocklists). Mail servers
shouldn't allow known spam sources to connect in the first place.

> I've seen a massive increase in this type of abuse in the past 2 weeks.
> Originally, I had the catchall set up to forward to a 'honeypot', but
> since the deluge of Non Delivery Messages, I've switched it off.
> But I am sure it can't be that difficult for the server to determine
> that the header was faked and therefore ditch the message in the first
> place.

Of course real NDRs/DSNs don't have bogus headers.