At 12:54 02/02/2004 Monday, Ahern, Shannon wrote:
>I know that the spam-generating viruses going around can fake mail from
>any accounts, so when I see that stuff, I know it isn't real. But how on
>earth can anything make my listserv ping or probe a non-subscribed
>account and then send me a report of the results? I am baffled. This
>person is not a subscriber - how can they be monitored?
>
>Here's one of the reports:
> 1 01/30 01/30 [log in to unmask]
> Last error: SMTP; 550 5.1.1 unknown or illegal alias:
> [log in to unmask]
something generated a "bounce" report perhaps sending to a bogus to: that
made it appear that it came from the owner-listname.
QED
I have a bunch of bounces from FIRSTNAME@SOME_ISP that aren't subscribed.
Now if you start to see bounce counts for most distributions from an
address, then that is worth pursuing as a subscriber system which is
redirecting or rewriting.
/Pete