Unacceptable: Forced to use WBS's SMTP server

[Crash]

My apologies Arthur. I jumped to a conclusion and didn't understand your situation properly.
This is going to affect a lot of people, not to mention bugger up ECT.
I find this to be a load of bull. Not to mention the fact I never got this bloody e-mail.

 

[DFantom]

It was probably sent to those who don't use the WBS SMTP server.

I don't use their server and I did not get it :/
Probebly their mail server is pooked or something else is wrong, a bad sign none the less

Surely it is easy to identify these people?

It's actually pretty hard to do it efficently on a monitoring side. Mostly on the consideration that spam can come in any form or matter.
A lot of identifing people comes when ISP's get reports from places like spamcop, dshield and mynetwatchman. Which is time consuming and annoying for the security desk, but it is the best way.
But yeah that is the way everyone else does this, so why WBS has to buck the trend is beyond me.

risk of being blacklisted by the various anti-spam organisations

So what? hell the entire of the ADSL user IP range is blacklisted. It's normal for dynamic IP user pools to be blacklisted. I know some spam lists that for all dynamic ip ranges regardless if spam comes from their or not.

a) All subscribers will only be permitted to relay outgoing mail through our authorised relay server, namely smtp.wbs.co.za.

a) Do they really think their servers can handle all of this extra mail. I mean give details on the mail server or expansion plans here to instill some confidence.
b) What about people who have specific reasons to use other servers. For instance my job requires certain procedures done to all email. For this they run an SMTP server which I send through from home. This means I can no longer do my job on iBurst (maybe this is a sign to can iBurst all together).
c) It is fine for the bulk of the people since I believe there system does not restrict the senders address to @wbs.co.za addresses and so on (if it does then it will screw a lot of people). So most people will just need to change their SMTP server, but this completely screws things like SPF and SenderID which means that WBS run the risk of having people like Google (gMail) and Microsoft (Hotmail, MSN) block there server since the spf is incorrect constantly.

b) The relaying of bulkmail is discouraged on the iBurst network. Certain restrictive measures will be enforced to ensure that the relaying of bulk mail does not adversely affect other traffic on the network.

a) No details given on this. This means they could just say no emails over x size and stuff you.
b) Put this in your AUP, check the reports about spam, kick the users from the network and take them to court. If WBS started really punishing people breaking the AUP in this regard by taking them to court, spammers would stay very far away from them, and they will be setting a great example for other companies. But with this they are just showing their lack of understanding the ISP market.

 

[Kei]

I have just received the e-mail mentioned further above, as follows:

Dear *****,

Due to excessive incidents of spamming on the iBurst network and the corresponding risk of being blacklisted by the various anti-spam organisations, we will be implementing certain preventative measures on our network.

As from Monday 27 June 2005:

a) All subscribers will only be permitted to relay outgoing mail through our authorised relay server, namely smtp.wbs.co.za. The majority of subscribers are already making use of this SMTP server within their email clients (such as MS Outlook). However, if this is not the case, subscribers are urged to use this mail relay as soon as possible. If you are unsure on how to implement the change, please contact our helpdesk.

Note: SMTP server, or otherwise known as outgoing mail server is a setting normally found within the account configuration section of your email client software.

b) The relaying of bulkmail is discouraged on the iBurst network. Certain restrictive measures will be enforced to ensure that the relaying of bulk mail does not adversely affect other traffic on the network.

If you anticipate that this policy may have a negative impact on you, you are kindly requested to contact Customer Services.

We are committed to continually enhancing your broadband experience and we believe that measure such as these will improve the quality of service and network availability for all subscribers.


Regards,

WBS Helpdesk

 

[Crash]

"Final Notification - Mail Relaying"

Ummm.... I just got this mail. How can it be a final Notification, if I only heard about this 2 days ago.

 

[Arthur]

Just a thought: Maybe there's a spammer at WBS sending out bulk mail about forcing use of smtp.wbs.co.za. Could this be clogging up their network?

The e-mail says contact Customer Services if this is a problem. But no-one there knows what's going on. Try as I might, I can't get to speak to a person at WBS about this. No-one understands what this means. They seem to think I don't know how to change the smtp in the mail clients, and very politely offer to step me though the process. Sigh. If I wasn't so busy this afternoon I'd be at their offices handing back my UTD.

 

[Kei]

people on the network, possibly a spammer on the network itself. I don't think spam is the problem- I think some people are infected with spyware bots and are still unaware of it!

I was infected on my desktop within 20 minutes when the reseller came to test at my house. I only saw the bot when I connected iBurst up for the first time and saw some strange TCP connections!

Found a DLL in my windows/system folder and deleted that and all references to it in the registry and problem solved

 

[nocilah]

i never get sent these funky things from iburst... and they have stopped sending me bandwidth reports... bang bang bang!

 

[jmn]

Just got the mail, and suddenly 2 bandwith reports after receiving nothing for almost a week...

 

[Kei]

same here- I am treating this e-mail as a potential hoax and will see what their network does on Monday

 

[ic]

Received my "Final" whatsit email - that was actually the first email - a short while ago as well...

PS: methinks it is authentic...

PPS: Ditto on the bandwidth reports - just received mine - haven't had anything since I got capped, but nowall of a sardine I get 1 after nothing for 5 days & I am still capped - not like that's changed...

 

[TheRoDent]

I someone could paste the email-headers we can guess as to it's authenticity.

 

[jmn]

Return-path: <helpdesk@wbsmobile.co.za>
Envelope-to: xxx@ddd.co.za
Delivery-date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 07:15:22 -0400
Received: from ddd by yyy.eee.com with local-bsmtp (Exim 4.43)
id 123456-000567-J6
for xxx@ddd.co.za; Fri, 24 Jun 2005 07:15:22 -0400
Received: from [196.30.31.197] (helo=mail-02.jhb.wbs.co.za)
by yyy.eee.com with esmtp (Exim 4.43)
id 123456-000567-9Z
for xxx@ddd.co.za; Fri, 24 Jun 2005 07:15:17 -0400
Received: from [196.30.31.102] (helo=wbscf1)
by mail-02.jhb.wbs.co.za with esmtp (Exim 4.50)
id 123456-000567-6p
for xxx@ddd.co.za; Fri, 24 Jun 2005 13:15:11 +0200
Message-ID: <25678912.1119612345678.JavaMail.root@wbscf1>
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 13:23:51 +0200 (GMT+02:00)
From: helpdesk@wbsmobile.co.za
To: nnn sss <xxx@ddd.co.za>
Subject: Final Notification - Mail Relaying
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
X-Mailer: ColdFusion MX Application Server
X-Original-Subject: Final Notification - Mail Relaying
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on
yyy.eee.com
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.5 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,HTML_20_30,
HTML_MESSAGE,MIME_HTML_ONLY,NO_REAL_NAME autolearn=no version=3.0.4
X-Spam-Level:

ddd, eee, xxx, yyy: actual info removed
Mail id's scrambled

Similar for bandwidth reports except no-reply:

Return-path: <no-reply@wbsmobile.co.za>
Received: from [196.30.31.102] (helo=wbscf2)
by mail-01.jhb.wbs.co.za with esmtp (Exim 4.50)
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 14:02:27 +0200 (GMT+02:00)
From: no-reply@wbsmobile.co.za

 

[brucel]

it sounds that open relay is allowed on mail server. get them to close it.

 

[alchamy]

Tried calling the helpdesk to clarify a few things regarding the mail that was sent out, was on hold for 20 minutes before it rang, and rang, and rang, it would probably still be ringing if I did not hangup.

 

[Arthur]

My comment about the Relay e-mail being spam was tongue-in-cheek.
Of course it's genuine.
Just ironic that they're letting users know they want to stop bulk e-mails - by bulk e-mail.

 

[DFantom]

Headers seem genuine.

Got to love this though, they say "please contact us for assistance" and look at the return email address

Return-path: <no-reply@wbsmobile.co.za>

Just one more fine example of how not to do business

 

[TheRoDent]

Received: from [196.30.31.102] (helo=wbscf1)
by mail-02.jhb.wbs.co.za with esmtp (Exim 4.50)
id 123456-000567-6p
for xxx@ddd.co.za; Fri, 24 Jun 2005 13:15:11 +0200
Message-ID: <25678912.1119612345678.JavaMail.root@wbscf1>
X-Mailer: ColdFusion MX Application Server

The email headers look pretty much Legit. WBS uses a custom built ColdFusion system as their customer/website/everything portal system. This email looks to have been generated by that exact same application platform, which makes sense. This is the system they would be using to send out an email to their customers.



Very unlikely that this is a spoof.

 

[jmn]

The email headers look pretty much Legit.
Very unlikely that this is a spoof.

Yeah, pretty sure of that...

 

[alchamy]

I am really not happy about this, definately going to consider another service, unfortunately I rely heavily on external SMTP servers.

 

[wushutiger]

well guys this is finally it, i wasnt going to change ISP's because I cam to the conclusion that they ALL SUCK here in SA, so I couldnt be bothered. But this SMTP and No Bulk Email nonsense is going to affect my business. So I will now have to look elsewhere.

But while we are on the topic, i think iBurst is showing us exactly how Hitler and the Gestapo would have run an ISP!

And now the big question, what is the next option? DSL? Sencrap??