Re: Blank Emails

On Thu, 09 Feb 2006, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.computer.security, in article
<5VyGf.136914$PY6.119844@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, John Gregory wrote:

Over the past week or two, I've begun receiving blank emails from unknown
sources for no apparent reason.

Phonebook or dictionary attack on the mail server. Spammers are using
zombies to try sending mail to common names or name sequences (such as
a last name with leading or trailing initial ['jdoe' or 'doej'] or trailing
number [doe23]) to get current lists of valid usernames. If the mail
server accepts the mail, the username is valid, and is added to the list
of valued contacts who want to receive spam. If the username is rejected,
the name doesn't get added. The list may then be sold to other spammers.

I did note that a number seemed to be originating from an edu extension
in New York state.

In theory, you could complain to your ISP. Probably won't do much good.

I never open then but I can tell they're blank from the preview window my
Outlook 2003 Inbox.

Get a real mail tool.

Here's the latest Xqogfkq@xxxxxxxxxxxxx I guess this is webmail.

More likely it's just the output of a random character generator and is
totally meaningless. The "From:" header is part of the contents of the mail,
which is actually delivered based on what is called the 'envelope sender'.
You only see that information when looking in the 'Received: header put on
the mail by your ISP's mail server.

Any idea what's going on here?

Normal spammer activity.

Old guy
.

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