smtp.sentechsa.com

Sentech's SMTP server has made it into SpamCop.net's blocking list (http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml). I'm not sure who's to blame for this because no cause is listed at http://www.spamcop.net/w3m?action=checkblock&ip=66.18.69.30.

So, now I can't send mail to any sourceforge mailing lists and I'm not sure who else is using SpamCop as their blocking list

smtp.sentechsa.com does not appear to be an open relay (so it doesn't look like the blame lies with Sentech):

<snip>
<arbitrary host outside of Sentech network> root # telnet smtp.sentechsa.com 25
Trying 66.18.69.30...
Connected to smtp.sentechsa.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 mail02.infosat.net ESMTP
helo <some arbitrary domain>
250 mail02.infosat.net no DNS A-data returned <some arbitrary domain>
mail from: espeer@<some arbitrary domain>
250 espeer@<some arbitrary domain> sender accepted
rcpt to: espeer@<some arbitrary domain>
571 espeer@<some arbitrary domain> prohibited. We do not relay
</snip>

I don't know what it takes to get black listed by SpamCop, however, I think it is Sentech's responsibility to take this up with SpamCop and get this sorted out as soon as possible.

SMTP relay servers for "dial-up clients" (which Sentech effectively is regarding E-Mail distribution) easily gets onto SpamCop.

It only takes a single user being hacked (and hijacked) to deliver a burst of a few thousand spams via the relayserver (smtp.sentechsa.com in this case) and it is almost guarenteed to hit a few honeypot mailboxes that will trigger Spamcop.

For this reason (and others) Spamcop should never be used on its own to block messages. It should be used in conjuction with other criteria to determine if a message is spam or not - SpamAssasin does a great job.

SpamCop is a great tool in reducing Spam deliveries to end users - one of the best - if used in the correct way.

This said: It remains a nuisance to have to use a "blacklisted" smtp server as not everybody is using SpamCop the correct way.








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