On 07:34 AM 8/2/97 EDT, the following was submitted for consideration by Marilyn H. Fetterman:
>Can someone explain how someone can be subscribed to lists via a 'mail
>bomb?'

Its actually quite simple.  If a person were to want to do it manually, all it take would be a few strategic LISTS commands to known list servers to accumulate a list of lists.  Then a single mail message "SUBSCRIBE [log in to unmask]" sent to a bazillion addresses in the TO field is all it takes.

However, there are some malicious programs out there that pretty well automate the process for you, such that all you have to do is provide the victims address and it generates the mail "bomb" from its own internal database.

In fact, I was recently offered a copy of such a program, and turned it down, by a friend of mine who happens to be a tech support person for an ISP.  It seems that many tech supporters that wish revenge on especially ignorant users will pull this on their own knowing that the ISP would never suspect itself of doing such a thing.  Well, it takes all kinds.

Paul Rice
PaulRice#Broadcast.Net