[plug] Is this a spam attack?

[James Devenish]

In message <Pine.LNX.4.44.0305131805090.2259-100000 at BBRH73.busby.net>
on Tue, May 13, 2003 at 06:11:20PM +0800, Bret Busby wrote:
> I would like to see anyone publicly accuse Microsoft of attempted 
> breaching of security of our computers with the intention of the 
> unauthorised use any of our computers for relaying.

Note that no invasion of a regular mail transfer agent is necessary for
relaying to occur -- relaying and unproven use of sender addresses are
the normal operations of a mail server. It's just like regular mail --
there's no reason why you couldn't write a postcard in my name, address
it to myself, and put it in the letterbox closest to your house. AusPost
is basically the analogue of an open SMTP relay. Host SMTP relays, of
course, should have only a limited set of source address (either host
addresses or SMTP addresses) for which they should knowingly perform
mail transfer.

PS. Mail daemons do not require any "firewall" to avoid being open
relays (unless the mail daemon is incredibly dodgy).