On June 22 2006 a filter was added to Xtra Email that will drop emails that have both a blank "To:" address and blank "Subject:". In order to not have messages dropped please ensure you provide as a minimum a "Subject:" or a "To:" address. Kind Regards, Ted Grenfell ISP Performance Manager T +64 9 359 5854 (extn 93254) F +64 9 377 0781 M +64 27 443 5455 E ted.grenfell(a)telecom.co.nz W www.telecom.co.nz Level 11, Telecom House, 8 Hereford Street, Private Bag 92028, Auckland CBD, New Zealand ________________________________ "This communication, including any attachments, is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you should not read it - please contact me immediately, destroy it, and do not copy or use any part of this communication or disclose anything about it. Thank you. Please note that this communication does not designate an information system for the purposes of the Electronic Transactions Act 2002."
-----Original Message----- From: Dave Green [mailto:dave.green(a)paradise.net.nz] Sent: Tuesday, 25 July 2006 9:14 p.m. To: nznog(a)list.waikato.ac.nz Subject: [nznog] Xtra filter email with blank From, To or Subject
I started having problems some weeks back with Xtra mailboxes not receiving mail from a number of lists that we send. After a bit of troubleshooting our end, a query to Xtra helpdesk revealed that they now filter emails that have a blank Mail From, To or Subject field (our lists have never had a from address and our email server appears to not have the facility to add one, which kinda makes it my problem but ...).
Xtra said:
"We have implemented a rule on our Xtra Email Servers requiring at a minimum of a From email address, To email address, and a subject to be displayed to prevent this form of Spam. If all of these are enterred into the email this will ensure continued delivery of the automated emails.
The Anti-Spam filter works by checking the content and style of email content. These blank emails have hidden content in the body that appears legitimate to the Anti-Spam filter and are passed."
Not sure if this is news or not, but I hadn't seen anything publicised re this change. My understanding was that blank "from" fields are valid, so filtering this type of email may break other things such as read receipts.
Has this been a problem for anyone else out there?
Dave
_______________________________________________ NZNOG mailing list NZNOG(a)list.waikato.ac.nz http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/nznog