[69243] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Spam with no purpose?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Gregory Hicks)
Wed Mar 31 22:48:37 2004
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 19:44:57 -0800 (PST)
From: Gregory Hicks <ghicks@cadence.com>
Reply-To: Gregory Hicks <ghicks@cadence.com>
To: deepak@ai.net
Cc: nanog@merit.edu
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
> Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 22:18:03 -0500
> From: Deepak Jain <deepak@ai.net>
> To: nanog@merit.edu
> Subject: Spam with no purpose?
>
>
>
> Can someone explain to me (publicly or privately) why someone would
send
> spam with no product to sell, no position to pitch, nothing except
text
> designed to get by a spam filter -- without even HTML to KNOW it got
by
> a spam filter..
It is a probe to verify the address. since it did not bounce, the
address is verified.
Some spam filters filter out empty messages. The words avoid this.
Regards,
Gregory Hicks
>
> For example:
>
> From: Joe Legitimate <jlegit@university.edu>
> To: Deepak Jain <deepak@ai.net>
> Subject: [dictionary word]
>
> [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary
word]
> [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary
word]
> [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary
word]
> [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary
word]
> [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary
word]
>
> --- EOM ---
>
> I don't understand why one would waste the time, if its a test, why
> would it get out in public?
>
> I would like to think I am being naive, but I just don't see the
upside
> unless it were particularly targeted at me or my mailserver to
determine
> our response or response time, etc.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> DJ
>
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Gregory Hicks | Principal Systems Engineer
Cadence Design Systems | Direct: 408.576.3609
555 River Oaks Pkwy M/S 6B1 | Fax: 408.894.3479
San Jose, CA 95134 | Internet: ghicks@cadence.com
I am perfectly capable of learning from my mistakes. I will surely
learn a great deal today.
"A democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding on what to have for
lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the results of the
decision." - Benjamin Franklin
"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they
be properly armed." --Alexander Hamilton