[NTLK] [ADMIN] Proofpoint blocking resolved

[Grant Hutchinson]

On 2015-04-15, at 1:41 PM, Dennis Swaney wrote:

> So, what was causing the problem?

As far as I can determine, this is what was happening ...

When a message was sent to the newtontalk-request at newtontalk.net address (which was supposed to be used for setting digest or vacation mode on your account or to get information about the list itself) and that message did not include any instructions recognized by the mailing list software, a copy of the original message was included in an automated response.

If the message sent to 'newtontalk-request' was spam, then a copy of that spam would get returned to the originating email address. I'm assuming that spam was being sent from some poor soul's mac.com, me.com, or icloud.com account (likely spoofed) and that spam was being bounced back through Proofpoint's system appearing as if it originated from the NewtonTalk server.

I have changed the way the automated response is handled. Now, when someone (or a spambot) sends anything to the 'newtontalk-request' address, a much more generic (and harmless) message is returned.


g.


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Grant Hutchinson
NewtonTalk List Dad & Web Custodian

http://newtontalk.net
http://twitter.com/newtontalk