Removing the Spam: Email Processing and Filtering

Written for network and system administrators, this concise, practical guide offers step-by-step instructions for installing and configuring an effective email system for your organization. The specific book focus is on the growing problem of spam--unwanted electronic junk mail. This book shows how to utilize mail-filtering tools and techniques to keep your system and users as spam-free as possible. Centered around real-world problems and issues, Removing the Spam will save you hours of frustration as you get your email system up and running. You will find in-depth coverage of major email systems and subsystems--sendmail, Procmail, Majordomo, and SmartList--and essential information about the following: *How to stop spam at the mail server and user levels *The most simple and effective way of generating the sendmail configuration file *Maintaining your sendmail configuration *Building and managing simple sendmail aliases and filters *Virtual domains *Filtering and sorting mail with Procmail *Procmail recipe files *Creating and administrating automated and manual mailing lists with Majordomo and SmartList *How to spot and combat mailing list abuse by spammers and list terrorists The books numerous practical examples (compatible with Solaris and FreeBSD) include controlling the procmailrc file, sorting mail, working with auto-responders, and many others. With this book you will be well equipped to install and run an efficient email system that wont be overrun by spam.

Table of Contents:
Preface. 1. The Dawn of Electronic Mail. The Internet Protocol. Email Standards and Fundamentals. RFC821: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. RFC822: Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages. Spam: Unsolicited Commercial Email. Removing the Spam. Tracking the Spammer. Spam Through Relays. Spam Blacklisting, Blackholing, and Filtering. Anti-Spam Resources. Mailing Lists. Mailing List Types. Mailing List Etiquette. Mail Filtering. Email Addresses and the Domain Name System. Finding Domain Information. Mail Exchange Records. Size and Growth of the Internet. Messaging Technology. What is Next? 2. Sendmail. The Current Version. Getting the Current Version of Sendmail. Building Your New Version of Sendmail. Compiling Makemap. Building Your Sendmail Configuration File. Save Your Old Sendmail. Install and Start Your New Configuration. The Generic Sendmail Configuration. Modifying Your Configuration. Stopping Spam via Sendmail. The Access Database. Turning On Relay-Domains. Using the Realtime Blackhole List. Other Configuration Options: Tweaking Sendmail. Blacklist Recipients. Redirect Mail. Privacy Flags. Identification Protocol (IDENT) Time-Out. Maximum Message Size. Maximum Recipients per Message. Include Sender in List Expansion. Aliases Auto Rebuild. Check Aliases. The Aliases File. The .forward File. Mailing Lists. Storing Mail in a File: Archiving. Sending Mail to a Program. Hiding Local Host Names. Supporting Virtual Users and Virtual Domains. A Local Mailer: Procmail. Procmail as Your Local Mailer. Procmail as a Special Mailer. Succeeding with Procmail. 3. Procmail. Getting Procmail. Building and Installing Procmail. Setting Up Procmail. Procmail Recipe Files. Comments. Procmail Recipes. Recipe Flags. Conditions. Actions. Regular Expressions (RE). A Simple But Complete Recipe. Building Your .procmailrc: Some Examples. Controlling Your rcfile. Duplicate, Empty, and Bloated Messages. A Vacation Recipe. Mail Sorting. Auto-Responders. A File Server. Spam Filtering. Advancing to Mailing Lists. 4. Mailing Lists. Mailing List Lists. Types of Lists. Mailing List Abuse. Combating Spammers. List Terrorists. Automatic versus Manual: Which Is Right for You? Mailing Lists: Subscriber's View. Manual Lists. Automated Lists. Mailing Lists: Administrator's View. Manual Lists. Automated Lists. Using Sendmail (A Manual List). Archiving. Sending Mail to a Program. Majordomo. Getting and Installing Majordomo. Majordomo Files and Directories. Creating a Mailing List. List Options. List Administrator Commands. Creating a Digest. SmartList. Getting and Installing SmartList. SmartList Files. Configuring SmartList. Creating a New List. List Options. List Administrator Commands. Creating a Digest. The Ensuing Tasks. Appendix. Internet Resources. Anti-Spam Web Sites. Anti-Spam Organizations. Spammer Address Sites. Request for Comments. RFC Web Sites. Relevant RFCs. Anti-Spam Software. Windows. Procmail Tools. Mailing Lists. FAQ Sites. Mail Filtering Sites. General. Procmail. Email Software. Message Transfer Agents. Formail: For Use with Procmail. Mailing List Software. Other Software. Miscellaneous Web Sites. Index. 0201379570T04062001

About the Author :
Geoff Mulligan is a founder of Geocast Network Systems and works on researching emerging network technologies and network and system security products such as telecommuting tools, firewalls, and encryption. Prior to this, he was a Senior Staff Engineer at Sun Microsystems and was principal architect for Sun's premiere firewall product--SunScreen--and a founding member of the Internet Commerce Group. While at Sun, Geoff took a sabbatical to help start USA.NET and create the NetAddress product, a permanent email address. Before joining Sun, Geoff worked at Digital's Network Systems Laboratory developing the DEC SEAL firewall and Networking courseware, and researching email systems and technology. He spent 11 years in the U.S. Air Force working at the Pentagon (he brought the first system in the Pentagon up on the ARPANET) on computer and network security, building local and wide area networks and teaching computer science at the Air Force Academy. Geoff received his M.S. in Computer Science in 1988 from the University of Denver and his B.S. in Computer Science in 1979 from the United States Air Force Academy. He holds patents in network security and electronic mail technologies. 0201379570AB04062001