Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 01:14:22 -0500
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>,
        WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: WSFA.org Admin contact
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

At 1/19/2006 10:44 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

>I am able to send from any address whatsoever.  After all, all the
>messages on this list are really coming from me; I automatically
>"forge" the sender's name and address into the headers.  It's all
>smoke and mirrors -- just like the rest of the Internet.  (Don't
>look at that man behind the curtain.)

Yep!  Mailservers are remarkably gullible...something spammers count on.

On OpenVMS, which has a mail system that predates the internet, it's a
little tricky dealing with things like MIME extensions that require extra
info in the internet headers, or with internet mail at all for that
matter.  The mail server that I work on creates the internet headers as it
sends the mail, but it's possible to create a file with whatever headers
and message you like, so long as you have a few required ones (like the
from and to lines), and just insert it into the flow at the midpoint and
out it goes.  I used that capability to create a little script to let you
submit MIME messages without problem (though today I modified the server
software to handle things more smoothly without that).

If you know a little bit more about the protocols involved you can send
mail with a telnet program...and put anything you'd like in there as from
and to...even the envelope from.  If you want to see what the protocol
looks like, get a sniffer program, like Etherial, and watch your mail
program send a message... ;-)

-- Mike B.
--
Regal Lager, It's not just a beer... It's a palindrome!