Programmers - help - Idea to build a better mail server that will keep spam off users computers

Lots of people use web mail and lots of folks use a POP account that delivers the mail (even if it is web mail based) right to the desktop such as in the case of people using Outlook or Thunderbird.

As it is now, people get spam in their mail boxes and they have to delete it manually or some folks create a folder to catch all of this junk mail then delete it - but many spam emails can contain viruses or are just very persistent - sometimes you get the same spam mail by the same company over and over each day and managing it can become a daunting task. People don't have the time nor want or need to deal with all that.

My idea is simply this - build a function into the mail client (even if it's web based) to flag unwanted spam mail to the server. The server remembers this choice and does not allow mail from that company/address/domain etc. to ever again be sent to the users inbox. The server simply deletes that mail as soon as it's recognized.

Possible? What do you think?

a reply to: JohnPhoenix
isn't there certain sites that publish list of the major spam offenders that you could use to filter some of it out.. either using keywords or IP's maybe an option.. or blocking a list proxy servers...

a reply to: ShadowChatter

Yes..but..
The it seems here the OP wishes to write a new program.....maybe..

a reply to: ShadowChatter

There are spam filters which use this data either server side or client side such as the spamcop filter www.spamcop.net...

By all means if your service or client provides use of such a filter it's silly not to use it. The trouble is many offenders do not get put on these lists or if they do they simply use a different domain that isn't yet blocked. My idea would work well in conjunction with these filters and also keyword filters. None of them by themselves would be an end solution but together it will help more than it hurts IMO.

a reply to: Bigburgh

Well, Not me, I'm not a programmer. I cannot see though why this would be something hard to do and wonder why I haven't heard of anyone doing it yet. Perhaps someone is and I just don't know about it. Furthermore this user flagged spam can in turn be sent to the spam filter companies so they can add this data to the spam filters.

Spammers have ways of getting around any safeguard in place to block them. Block a domain, they will change their domain. Block all domains except approved ones, they will spoof YOUR domain.

I have received spam emails that appear to be sent from my email address. I have received emails that have a date of a week from the day I receive it, so the email is always at the top of the list.

Those guys are crafty and anything done to stop them will be met with increasingly more clever ways of spamming you.

Sadly, i suspect a complete re-write of how email works would be required to make any kind of real progress in the war against spammers.

a reply to: xDeadcowx

Most of the time if your email client allows you to view the full headers you can determine that those too are simply spoofed addresses that do not match your real address. The right software running on the mail server should see though this too. I've had the same issues myself and they can be very annoying.

I agree, a full re-write of how email works is needed.

There's already a heap of services that do pretty much exactly what you describe. One of the more popular ones used by large companies is Postini. They act as an intermediary between the internet and your mail server and do an impressively good job of stopping spam before it hits your mail server based on a combination of heuristics, blacklists and whitelists. There's no point building yet another version of anti-spam software for your mail client(s) because by the time the spam hits your local machine it's already too late.

I have no idea what my ISP uses now, but they're using some kind of filtering to help prevent spam and viruses coming through via e-mail. The only thing that really sucks about it is the fact that it takes an incredibly long time for me to receive any e-mail from them; for example I've had several issues where I needed to verify different things via e-mail where I was using my ISP's e-mail instead of just gmail or aim or yahoo, etc.. and by the time I got the stupid thing it had timed out on the other end. The last time it happened I had to actually fill out a "ticket" and call up a company's customer service to verify all of my information and get the e-mail changed on that specific account. So.. it's kind of a doubled edged sword - at least at this point in time... maybe my ISP just needs to add more mail servers or something, I have no idea - they just started doing the filtering within the last 6 months at the most.

I telnet'ed into my ISP email quick for the hell of it, to see if it would tell me what they were using; but they have it nice and secure now -- not like in the old days.

Anyway here's some information you might find interesting:

help.ubuntu.com...

Like xDeadcowx said spammers will always find away. having a system that is supposed to secure will lull people into a false sens of security. Then people will always be complaining that it doesnt work!

a reply to: PhoenixOD

I think the point is that it's a constant battle between "white hats" and "black hats"...

The argument you guys are making is pretty much the same thing as saying its completely pointless to run a firewall or use an antivirus on your system because there will always be people out there who will always find a way to get around them... We might as well all stop bothering with coding anything new at all. What's the point?

People will always be out there who find a way to exploit it.

a reply to: Time2Think

I dont use an antivirus

a reply to: PhoenixOD

cool, so what security do you use?

let me guess.. something along the lines of computer labs, coffee shops, and public libraries as well as free wifi hotspots whenever possible?

www.broadbandmap.gov...

a reply to: Time2Think

if on the very rare occasion i feel something might be up i blitz the computer with everything from bleepingcomputer.com. Basically im just very careful on what i click on and what i download. As long as you know all the danger points of the internet you are usually ok.

a reply to: JohnPhoenix

I already block those addresses...and they are automatically sent to SPAM folder and blocked for the next attempt. Isnt this what you are saying? Because Ive been doing that for years and years now...at least 10.

The issue really is the offenders change their IP sending add and although they were quarantined for deletion and blocked...it starts again from the new address/IP...and it becomes an endless cycle.

Again for clarification: I already have spam filtered automatically, sent to spam folder and that sender blocked from further repetitive sends...

If that is what youre proposing....it being done already