FRIHOST • FORUMS • FAQ • TOS • BLOGS • DIRECTORY
You are invited to Log in or Register a Frihost Account!

I want my subdomain mail server to require password on send!

   Frihost Forum Index -> Support and Web Hosting -> Web Hosting Support
 


IceCreamTruck
Do the mail servers require a password on send?

My subdomain: Space.frih.net

I keep getting undeliverable mail messages sent to bad email addresses, and I'm wondering what this means is happening when it can deliver the email, and how many emails are being sent through as if it were me.

I figure this is the age old hack of sending mail through a mail server that doesn't require a password on send, but I could be mistaken.

Take your time on this issue as it is not the end of the world, but I am very interested in locking everything down so that my hosting account isn't a spam portal.

I'm also running the phpBB2 forums and would appriciate any helpful advice there too. I haven't had to spend too much time keeping it clean, but I know that one day it too will probably start to be more trouble than it is worth.
Daniel15
The FriHost mail servers require a password on send, they're not open relays.

Quote:
I keep getting undeliverable mail messages sent to bad email addresses, and I'm wondering what this means is happening when it can deliver the email, and how many emails are being sent through as if it were me.

It's usually someone spoofing the 'From' address (a spammer). Basically, they're setting the From address to one at your subdomain, but it's not actually going through the FriHost mail server.
If the bounce message has the headers attached, check the 'Received:' headers. They should say where the email came from.

The one suggestion I can give you is never put your email address on a website in clear text (like this: bob@example.com). Always make sure to either not list your address at all, or obfuscate it (eg. bob -[at]- example -[dot]- com). If you post it in clear text, a spam bot will snatch up that email address, and will not only spam you, but use your email address on the 'From:' header of some of the spams it sends.

This is known as the Backscatter of email spam, by the way.
IceCreamTruck
First off: thanks for the quick reponse

Second: I know a lot about servers, networks, and generally trying to conquer the computer world, but there is always more to learn, and I still feel like spammers have the upper hand on me because I don't have the time to read every software manual that I want to, and figure out how to really lock down every possible software alley or backdoor. I might be overly parnoid...call it what you will.

Third: I've taken steps to make sure my forums are up to date, and that they aren't being used as a spam portal. I imagine that phpBB2 is not all that bad of a spam portal when it is set up right, but I'm having trouble importing my privious forum database so I know it's secure right now! LOL! If you don't have any of your users information online at all, hehe, then there is no information to prirate. ;-p So I have a lot of work ahead of me in getting my forums alive again, but in the process a lot of security questions have come up, and one of them being why I'm getting returned mail to people that I've never heard of.

HAHA, the worlds second longest FriHost post. I'm sure Bondings is still #1
Reply to topic    Frihost Forum Index -> Support and Web Hosting -> Web Hosting Support

FRIHOST HOME | FAQ | TOS | ABOUT US | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
© 2005-2007 Frihost, forums powered by phpBB.