I did not mean to advertise here. I only wanted a good agree-able solution. Spam sucks. Email virus's suck. I use web mail interfaces to filter every thing before I down load. Now I need to tell my admin to set the SpamFilter YourHop variable. Root accounts fill up with junk when no other email accounts exist. %%% Not here, but at work I get return mail unsent for nothing I sent. I filter that stuff to trash. So now Robots are self generating globs of unwanted information back and forth to no one. It is unstoppable. %%% The protocol and mail application need to be replaced with a secure new application and secure protocol. We can keep the old stuff for junk. But I would subscribe to a secure service for banking, taxes, and other stuff in which I don't want the spam filter to filter. Yes, I have had bills filtered by spam filters only to miss a payment. %%% I know there are groups working on this. If I were more proficient with java or c, I would create the app myself. %%% KaJoTra

StopSpamNow is spam filtering software that works well. I have been using it and it works in a different way to all the others, you can get a free 30 day trial here http://www.stop-spam.biz so there=====

=

Or, you could go with a free solution that works. If you use Microsoft's Outlook, then http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/ ( SpamBayes ) does content filtering and address filtering. After some minor training (you tell it a few pieces of email are good, a few are bad), I found it to be highly effective.

---StarPilot

Spam has gotten so bad that it is overloading our servers. Processing all the email reduces the email reliability for our customers and has overloaded our machines so badly that it has been forcing reboots several times a week.

Not only is there dozens of incoming email sources competing for connections, but all the spam filtering tools are adding to the system load. Spammers have gotten very skillful at defeating text filtering methods and move too quickly for traditional blacklisting spammer ip addresses.

I am against "zero tolerance" programs in general, but that is what it has come to. I have been drafted by necessity into a war against spam.

I developed a mailbot system to block the source of all the spam I can automatically identify within one minute. In the last four days I have caught over 4000 spam sources and blocked them. I am still getting a couple more every minute. Finally, the system load due to email is getting low and the number of spams getting through is becoming reasonable. I am holding my own in this war against spam, it seems.

Hopefully the number of new sources will slow down and spammers will "learn" to leave our systems alone. There are still more steps I need to take.

This is a collaborative filtering rather than individual filtering, on our machine. I'd like to extend this to work amoung systems in a distributed manner, perhaps as an open source effort.

Zero tolerance for spammers, blocking them on the first spam, collectively, can stop them. WE do have the power.

Since spammers move to new ip addressees so often, I'll be forgiving first offenses after a week, second after a month, etc., so that I am only blocking active spammers for the most part. The trick is to identify them with the first email they send and cut them off quickly. I'll also be adding facilities to allow imap users to participate actively simply by filing spam in a folder called spamblock.

Check out how well this is working at: http://xanthus.net/spam.cgi

--JimScarver

Sounds interesting Jim==== Good luck and keep up the good work! --StarPilot

==

My approach turned out to be a bit naive, I will need to take a combined approach, using other blacklists of the 20,000 most avtive spam ip in the last week along with my dynamic blocking. They come from too many places....... I'll report back when I make some progress. --JimScarver

'UPDATE:' I may have almost won the spam war. I finally got my bugs fixed and in less than two weeks....

Unique spammer IP addresses identified: 25,489 %%%Groups with more than two spammer IPs: 706 IP addresses: 180,736 %%%( from http://xanthus.net/spam.cgi ) %%%Spam emails captured: 136,820

I am blocking about 200K ip's and spam has slowed to a trickle, new IP addresses are blocked immediately when identified, often instantly on reception of the first spam message they send.

It is amazing what one guy can do. but now I need help from our provider to cinch the victory. We are still vulnerable to certain types of spam attacks.

More than two spammers in your IP group-- three strikes, You're Out====, I block the group .

==

Spam me once, shame on you==== I block your IP address. Spam me twice, shame on me! (I screwed up)

==

My inbox is quiet at last, ahhhhhhhhh..., a lot of others will be happy also (450 user accounts, plus aliases)

--JimScarver

Got spam?

* The best free spam filter http://spamassassin.apache.org/
* Anti spam email hosting: XanthusInc

-JimScarver

The spam war is won. Thank you for your support, Spam on Xanthus.Net is no more. How we capitalize on that is the only issue.

--JimScarver

Is this a product only for xanthus or can it be ported everywhere. Can I sell it to both NIX and WIN ISPs. Could AOL and MS licence it or buy it. What kind of capitalization are we talking. I am ready to quit my job and be on the phone for what may be the best product on the market. SpamWar SpamWar1 SpamWars Spam?Not==== SpamKnot SpamMeNot DontSpamOnMe LetItSpam SpamItBe JamSpam SpamJam AppleSpam SpamPie SpamItOn SpamAid DeadSpamWalking Spamantha

==

JohnScarver

WOW====

==

Packaging is a major issue. Only mail servers need SpamBlock. End users need email accounts but mostly we would be selling to organizations, or domains

We have zero capitalization, the budget is zero. We must look only at the largest customers and multi-level marketing.

Unfortunately SpamBusters has become a very compertative market. The major ISP's will all have good solutions. CyberTrust just announce IronMail, which employs much of the SpamBlock idea, plus encrypted email, a nice combination. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1706608,00.asp

We need to find our nitch to fund stopping spam. We can't assume somebody else will.

--JimScarver

Well, we will try to market to the government.... got http://SpamToaster.net

Vote for the following:

   SpamRestrainer.Com
   SpamSuppressor.Com
   SpamTerminator.US
   SpamExecutioner.Com jim
   SpamSlayer.US
   SpamCarnage.Com marty jess
   SpamBattue.Com
   SpamMassacre.Com marty
   SpamDefeat.Net
   Spamicide.US
   SpamExtirpator.Com
   SpamSaber.Com
   SpamSabre.Com
   SpamTomahawk.Com jim
   SpamApache.Com jess
   SpamSlaughter.Net
   SpamCounterAttack.Com
   SpamMercenary.Com
   SpamLegion.Com
   SpamLegionnaire.Com
   SpamAgent.US
   SpamCounterAgent.Com jim
</verbatim>

See BoycottSpam, SpamBlock

Market it to Bill. He gets 4 million spams.

http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=F63EE56D-E787-41C0-8044-B4623357B9D0

Do we know anyone who works for MS.

JohnW

That is awesome====
==
"Are you sick of getting unwanted messages in your inbox? Here's your chance to join the fight against spam as now you too can get involved. Download the Make Love not Spam screensaver - the only screensaver that actively works to stop the spammers - and tell your friends to do the same to spread the love."<>

As Silicon.com reports in [[|http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39126203,00.htm Spammers targeted with DDoS attack]] ...

A spokesman for Lycos said: "This gives internet users the opportunity to hit spammers where it hurts. Sending spam is not a minor misdemeanor, as spam causes billions of pounds of damage to the economy. This is why we are upping the ante in the fight against those responsible for spam."

But denial-of-service attacks are illegal in a many countries and some organizations have criticized the move. Steve Linford, director of non-profit anti-spam organization Spamhaus, has dedicated the last eight years of his life to fighting spammers. He said that Lycos has failed to think the idea through.

"It's irresponsible of Lycos to put its name to it because it lends legitimacy to DDoS attacks," said Linford. "You can't break into a thief's house just because he breaks into yours. We don't support this or recommend this practice. Directing traffic is part of the degradation of the internet we are trying to stop."

At SpamArsenal we are a bit more sympathetic with the Lycos approach.  This is WAR when our systems are being brought down by excessive load due to spammers and they must be stopped by whatever means it takes.  Effective industry standard controls for spam control are still a few years down the road at best and we need to reclaim our systems and networks from the spammers now.

The Lycos approach, however, is a bit extreme.  While making spamming unprofitable may be the only way to stop it, we can stop it using SpamArsenal dynamic blocking technology without becoming part of the problem ourselves.

http://makelovenotspam.com/intl/

[[|http://synergy.xanthusinc.com/%7Ejim/MLNSscreensaveren.exe get the screensaver now]]
Morpheus wrote:

> I have been using it for a little while now and it seems to work.

There were 90,000 clients last night, already enough to put just about anybody out of business.

> Today though it doesn't seem to be connecting to well.

They are begging for denial of service attacks. Lycos has taken a bold move that can really have an impact on spam. It they can stay up, they have won a great victory. Time will tell, I am rooting for them.

> I would of brought it
> up here myself but I wanted to avoid all the Ethical and Moral
> discussions.
>
This is hitting spammers where it hurts, their pocketbooks. Companies will have to take responsibility for how they are marketed. It is the American way, but may really be illegal here. The communists may have won in what has become our social democracy.

I hate American military action but applaud our economic actions when they are applied fruitfully. The real value of the Lycos screen saver is the threat is presents, rather than it's application. I cannot conceive of a spammer that will not cease and desist under the threat of a Lycos attack. It is in the democratic spirit in that we each choose whether we want to participate. I choose to and respect your right to object. But I am confident, that enough people will elect to run it to make it a formidable spam deterrent is the spammers are not successful in bringing them down.  I don't want to grant them tooo much power.

If terrorists were to get a hold of the network we would be in deep shit. They could bring anybody down. But Lycos is not stupid, and it is not hard to turn it off.

I respect Lycos for their early role in adding value to the web and applaud their bold stand against spam to a point. We can steal their resources because they stole ours first. But must be forgiving when they cease and desist. Such power should never be wielded against the innocent or the repentant ever or we violate our live and let live social contract.

Dune wrote:

> The thing is, even if it does work, remember, using it can come back and bite you in the ass====  The spammer will be able to legitimately get your ISP to drop your account for a DDoS attack.  Use at your own risk.
==
>
Catch me if you can.  Each client bombs a variety of sites at a low rate.  Nobody can prove you are launching a DOS attack even if they did care that you were attacking spammers.  It is only in unison that the DOS attack exists.  By sending us spam they invite us to visit their site.  How can that be interpreted as a DOS attack?  Nobody knows we did not actually view the site.

I love the graphics showing where in the world you are bombing a spammer.  I want to cheer each time I nail one

Unfortunately, if this is sucessful in spotting the exponential growth of spam my anti-spam business is done for.

Anybody have suggestions for best of breed anti-spam products the http://SpamArsenal.com/index.php should sell.

Is there a market for spam scrubbing outgoing email?  How about certifying email providers as spam_brigade approved spam scrubbed email providers and publising an SMTP "white list"?

The beauty of the spam_brigade group is that it is a community of trust.  I feel I speak frankly here without "sleeping with the enemy".  I hope our founders maintain that aura.  I am still in shock from the fact that spam brought down our server, and am afraid I am begging for a DDoS attack myself.

As of now I have identified 132010 unique spammer ip addresses and 9052 ip groups of 256 ip addresses with three or more spammers and am blocking about two and a half million ip addresses.  While I have the system load under control I am still identifying over 2000 new spammer ip addresses every day.  I am winning the spam war, but the battle is constant.  And this is just on one system with 400 users in about 200 domains. ( from http://xanthus.net/spam.cgi )

JimScarver

Lycos Antispam screensaver is taking down innocent people sites== shared servers are used by many people... if only one of them is a spammer, the entire server can get down=======
=
Madbros